Sad news out of Nashville today, the iconic country vocalist Charlie Louvin passed away early Wednesday morning. He was 83 years old and had been battling pancreatic cancer since the summer of 2010.

Louvin was still musically active until recently, playing Triangle clubs on a semi-regular basis as a solo act. But he'll be best-remembered as half of the Louvin Brothers with his late great brother Ira, who made some of the most gorgeous, strange and all-around scary records in country music history.

A lot of Louvin Brothers songs are ostensibly about heaven. Yet they're still profoundly unsettling because the brothers' apocalyptic harmonies convey such awareness of That Other Place that's south of heaven. And when they sang about the end times on songs like "Great Atomic Power" (which I still can't hear without shuddering), the effect was downright terrifying.

For all that, Charlie himself was reportedly an affable fellow. Triangle expatriate Tift Merritt did a guest vocal on Louvin's 2007 self-titled release, but they didn't actually meet until they sang together at the Grand Ole Opry two years ago.

"That was such a thrill," Merritt says. "The Louvin Brothers changed everything for people who sing harmony together. If you sing harmony, you just have to listen to them. I was so nervous about meeting him, but he could not have been nicer. In fact, he was a wonderful flirt. So I'm very sad he's gone, but I'm also happy that the Louvin Brothers are finally together again."