Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers’ Story – New Wimbledon Theatre, London

Writer: Clive Fishlock

Directors: Trevor Payne, Ollie Gray and Peter Jackson

In the late 1950s, brothers Phil and Don Everly – who had grown up in a family that performed country music – wanted to move into rock and roll. Championed by guitar legend Chet Atkins, they soon found management and a record label, and when their first single, Bye Bye Love, became an instant hit, their legacy was assured.

The Everly Brothers’ career is chronicled in Walk Right Back, a tribute concert that doesn’t just celebrate the brothers’ songs but also attempts to tell the story behind them. Luke Wilson and James Hudson stand front and centre, recreating Phil and Don’s close harmonies that made the duo’s style so characteristic.

While they perform in character, the two performers narrate the Everlys’ story as themselves (perhaps just as well, if their attempts to emulate American spoken accents are anything to go by). It’s a predominantly chronological tale, meaning that Bye Bye Love is swiftly followed by Wake Up Little Susie and All I Have to Do is Dream, all products of the brothers’ successful collaboration with prolific songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant.

But while each of the Everlys’ string of hits is well-known and beloved, the brothers’ performance was also somewhat softer than their peers, keeping a foot in country music where the likes of their peer and friend Buddy Holly were leaning further into pure rock and roll. The energy in the room ramps up when the show catalogues the brothers’ “package tour” in 1957-58, as they toured the USA with Holly and Roy Orbison. Lead guitarist Thomas Wright delivers a fine impression of Buddy Holly, while Curtis Lavender’s Orbison also goes down well with the audience. It brings a welcome mix to the tempo, both of the music and the story being told; the story of the Everly Brothers, at this stage in their life, seems particularly anodyne.

As the narrative hits the 1960s, the brothers’ new era after signing with Warner Brothers is marked by a performance of Cathy’s Clown. There is a broader sense that although their peers in the industry admire and respect their musical style, rock and roll is moving faster away from their more country-infused sound. That feeling is compounded by a segment talking about the “British Invasion”, spearheaded by the Beatles and the Mersey Sound. Wilson and Hudson talk about the Everlys’ desire to change up their sound to compete; however, the performance of 1967’s Bowling Green doesn’t quite get that across. Played as it is by the same band as the other songs in the evening, the Everlys’ use of a wind ensemble for the single doesn’t really come across on stage.

It is during the 1960s that the Everlys’ offstage story starts to get interesting. However, by concentrating on the brothers’ performances, we don’t get an insight into their disputes with their manager, which included them using pseudonyms on some recordings to try and avoid paying royalties to their manager. There is a brief mention of Don’s collapse during a UK tour and press speculation that it was down to a drug overdose. Still, we speed through this period to get to a 1973 concert when the brothers’ offstage tensions erupted onstage, with Phil smashing his guitar and walking off. 

This makes for a natural Act I conclusion, but it also means that there’s not much material for Act II to draw from. As a result, most of the second half is based on the pair’s reunion concert in 1983 in London’s Royal Albert Hall. It’s an opportunity to fill in some of the brothers’ catalogue that was skipped over in Act I, including Bird Dog.

From there, we also get a performance of a song written for the brothers by Paul McCartney (we are reminded numerous times that Phil and Don’s harmonies profoundly influenced his early work with John Lennon). On the Wings of a Nightingale may not be regarded as a “classic” Everly number, but it is a fine song. More well regarded, perhaps, is Love is Strange, coming near the end of the concert, chronologically tying in with its revived use in the film Dirty Dancing.

The second act also has an extended sequence paying tribute to other rock and roll legends of the era. Like the Holly/Orbison sequence in Act I, it helps to bring the tempo and mood up. But throughout, it’s the Everlys that the people have come for, and their blend of country pop really inspires the audience. Wilson, Hudson, and their band really shine in their recreation of the brothers’ most famous numbers.

And while the sanitised narration of the Everly Brothers’ story skips over the interesting and controversial elements, one can’t begrudge the desire to venerate two singer-songwriters whose sound is embedded in the story of rock and roll. Walk Right Back may have its flaws, but its enthusiasm for Phil and Don’s music wins through.

Reviewed on 28 October 2024 and continues to  tour