“That Word in My Bible”: Listening Critically to the Louvin Brothers’ “Broad Minded”

Some of the music of the famed country brother duo the Louvin Brothers can be jarring to contemporary music listeners—especially those on US college campuses, which skew to the left. The conservative Baptist fervor of Ira Louvin’s song “Broad Minded” (rec. 1952, rel. 1953) appears in a relatively early recording by the duo. By examining the song’s form, text-melody relationships, and invocation of Black musical practices, this essay argues that what is potentially shocking about the song for contemporary, liberal-minded listeners is as much musical and sonic as it is a matter of linguistics. But musical analysis also allows us to attend to the song’s communicative contradictions: the fire-and-brimstone message of “Broad Minded” is often undermined by its musical setting.