Ira had continued to write songs, and through Eddie was able to get them published by Acuff-Rose. Fred Rose wasted no time in placing Louvin songs with major recording stars of the day: Within months Red Sovine, Charlie Monroe, Johnny and Jack, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Carl Smith, and Jim and Jesse had all cut Louvin songs. Rose also got them recording contracts on their own, first with Decca and then with MGM. It was with Decca that the Louvins had their first release under their own name, a lilting tribute called “Alabama,” backed up by “Seven Year Blues” (1949). The MGM sides included a set of influential gospel numbers like “Weapon of Prayer” (a special favorite during the Korean War).
The records, though, didn’t translate very well into touring and radio success, and the early 1950s became a frustrating round-robin of gigs in Knoxville, Greensboro, Danville, and Birmingham. A low point came in late 1951 when the team decided to split up and get out of the music business. But then Fred Rose called with some good news: He had talked Ken Nelson at Capitol into giving them a try on his label. By late September 1952 they were in Nashville cutting their first new sides, including the popular “Love Thy Neighbor.” And it was Nelson they called a couple of years later, in 1955, from the Birmingham phone booth, asking about the Opry.
When they started on the Opry—their first assignment was the Prince Albert show with Red Foley—the brothers were known primarily as a gospel act. Sensing that this would limit them both in record sales and in touring, they asked Nelson to let them start cutting non-gospel material. He was reluctant: One of his other big acts, Martha Carson, had tried to switch into straight country and failed. Finally, though, he agreed, and the brothers came up with a non-gospel song they thought would work: “When I Stop Dreaming.” Charlie recalls, “We sang that song for a year, messing around with it.