The Wilburn Brothers

The last of country music's great sibling duos, brothers Doyle and Teddy Wilburn were as formidable in the spotlight as they were behind the scenes, lending their superb close harmonies to 30 chart hits including the classic "Hurt Her Once for Me" in addition to launching the careers of acts including Loretta Lynn. Virgil Doyle Wilburn was born July 7, 1930, in Hardy, AR, with Thurman Theodore Wilburn following on November 30, 1931. Their father, Benjamin, a disabled World War I veteran, purchased from the Sears, Roebuck catalog a guitar, mandolin, and fiddle in the hopes that the children might aid the family's dire finances by performing in public, and with older brothers Lester and Leslie and sister Geraldine, Doyle and Teddy began their professional music career as the Wilburn Family on a street corner in Thayer, MO, on Christmas Eve 1937. Soon the children were spending six months of each year in Hardy's one-room schoolhouse and the other six touring radio stations, school auditoriums, and churches throughout the South; during a 1940 stop in Birmingham, AL, the Wilburn Family caught the attention of singer Roy Acuff, and on his recommendation they were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry that spring. Their stay lasted only six months, however -- pressure from child labor organizations forced the Opry to terminate their contract. The Wilburns returned to Hardy and continued touring, although their schedule was curtailed by the United States' entry into World War II; after the war, Geraldine married and retired from the road, although the four brothers continued performing and in 1948 were named to the cast of the famed Louisiana Hayride radio show, where they befriended a then-unknown Webb Pierce. In 1951 both Doyle and Teddy were drafted to serve in the Korean...