Soon, though, Ira was drafted; Charlie despaired and returned home, but some three months later he received interesting news from Ira: He had injured his back during training at Fort Bliss, and was being discharged. They returned to Chattanooga, where they spent the next two years working with the area’s most popular radio band, Bob Douglas and His Foggy Mountain Boys (not related to the later bluegrass band of the same name). In 1945 it was Charlie’s turn to be drafted; he enlisted instead and landed at Lowery Air Force Base.
Ira took a lob with Charlie Monroe and his band, and played the mandolin on several hit records by him, including “Bringing in the Georgia Mail.” By the fall of 1946 the brothers were reunited again and found work in Knoxville at WROL. It was here they changed their names to Louvin. “People had trouble with Loudermilk,” says Charlie. “They pronounced it wrong, spelled it wrong, sometimes even laughed at it. So we took the first three letters of Loudermilk and added the v-i-n to it.” It was also at Knoxville that they met a veteran promoter and musician named Smilin Eddie Hill, who was to have a major effect on their career.
Soon he landed them all a job in Memphis, where they were to spend the next four years, from 1946 to 1950. For a time they did three shows a day over WMPS. Though they did everything from comedy to western swing, they soon found their niche with gospel songs. “Ira and I would get 6,000 letters a week from people requesting hymns,” Charlie said. Hill was still skeptical—until he went with the brothers to a church concert and watched them collect a “love offering” of over $200.
