Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin
Promo shot taken for 2011 album Eleven Eleven
Background information
Born	November 11, 1955 (1955-11-11)
Origin	Downey, California, United States
Genres	Alternative country, roots rock, folk, blues, rockabilly, punk
Instruments	Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Rhino, Yep Roc
Associated acts	The Blasters The Knitters The Flesh Eaters X

Dave Alvin (born November 11, 1955, in Downey, California), is a Grammy-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been one of the leading proponents of 'roots' or 'American' music, bringing together elements of rock-and-roll, blues, rural and tejano music. He is known for both his solo work and that with a long list of collaborators, including as a member of The Blasters, X, and The Knitters.

Early musical influences

Dave and his older brother Phil grew up in a music-loving family in Downey, California. As teenagers, they regularly attended blues, rockabilly, and country night clubs where they saw performances by greats like T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, and Lee Allen, who later joined Dave and Phil in The Blasters.

The Blasters

In 1979 Dave and his brother formed roots rock group The Blasters with fellow Downey, California residents Bill Bateman and John Bazz. The Blasters became a sensation in Los Angeles and won an enthusiastic cult following across the United States and Europe. However, the Blasters were unable to translate their critical respect and enthusiastic fan base into mainstream success, and in 1986, Dave left the band.

X

Shortly after leaving the Blasters, Alvin joined X as lead guitarist after the departure of Billy Zoom. Alvin amicably left the group to work on a solo project shortly after the recording sessions for their album See How We Are. Dave is also a member of country band The Knitters (composed mainly of members of X), appearing on 1987's Poor Little Critter on the Road and the 2005 follow-up, The Modern Sounds of The Knitters.

The Flesh Eaters

In the early 1980s Dave, along with fellow Blasters members Bill Bateman and Steve Berlin, performed on several albums with the Los Angeles punk band The Flesh Eaters. These albums are considered precursors to what is now called "deathrock".

The Gun Club

Dave Alvin also played with the band The Gun Club briefly, playing guitar on "Eternally Is Here" & "The Stranger in Our Town" from the 1984 album, The Las Vegas Story.

Solo career

Alvin's first solo album, entitled Romeo's Escape in the United States and Every Night About This Time in England, added a purer country influence along with a larger side-portion of the blues; while the album was critically well received, it didn't fare well in the marketplace, and Alvin was dropped by his American record label, Columbia. Alvin suffered health problems which sidelined him for a while, except for a wild tour with friends Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana as the Pleasure Barons, which was described as "a Las Vegas revue from acts who aren't going to be asked to play Vegas". (A live album was released of a second Pleasure Barons tour in 1993.)

In 1989, Dwight Yoakam scored a hit on the country charts with Alvin's song "Long White Cadillac", and Alvin used the royalties to start work on his second solo set, Blue Blvd. Released by the California-based roots-music label Hightone Records in 1991, Blue Blvd received enthusiastic reviews and sold well enough to re-establish Alvin as a significant artist in the roots rock scene.

After releasing Museum of Heart in 1993, Alvin began to turn his attention to acoustic music with 1994's King of California, and over the next several years Alvin moved back and forth between hard-edged roots rock and more introspective acoustic material that still honored his influences (and allowed him to display a greater range as a vocalist).

In 2000, Alvin recorded a collection of traditional folk and blues classics, Public Domain: Songs From the Wild Land, which earned him a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

In 2011, Alvin released the album Eleven Eleven on Yep Roc Records. The album was a return to Alvin's rock roots. According to Rolling Stone, "Though Alvin has often switched between electric and acoustic, almost everything here is plugged in – above all Alvin, an underrecognized guitar hero."

Dave Alvin (2005)

Other projects

When not busy recording his own music, Alvin has also worked as a producer for several other roots-oriented acts, including Chris Gaffney, Tom Russell, the Derailers, and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, as well as collaborating with rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess. As a sideman, Alvin has recorded sessions with the likes of Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Little Milton, Katy Moffatt, and Syd Straw.

Dave has had at least two books of poetry published: Any Rough Times Are Now Behind You and Nana, Big Joe & the Fourth of July. His poetry has appeared in Caffeine, the A.K.A. Review, Rattler, Asymptote and Enclitic. It has also appeared in the following anthologies: Nude Erections, Hit And Run Poets, and Poetry Loves Poetry—An Anthology of Los Angeles Poets.

He appeared as "Dave" in the movie Border Radio (1987) and as "Chauffeur" in Floundering (1994). He appeared on the FX television series "Justified" (2011). He also appeared in Streets of Fire (1984) with The Blasters.

Blasters discography

• American Music - 1980
• Blasters - 1981
• Over There - 1982
• Non Fiction - 1983
• Hard Line - 1985
• The Blasters Collection - 1990
• Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings - 2002
• The Blasters Live - Going Home - 2004

Blasters videography

• Streets of Fire - 1984
• The Blasters Live—Going Home - 2004

X discography

• X: See How We Are - 1986

The Knitters discography

• Poor Little Critter on the Road - 1985
• The Modern Sounds of the Knitters - 2005

Dave Alvin discography

Year	Album	Chart Positions
		US Country	US	US Heat	US Indie
1987	Romeo's Escape	60	116
1991	Blue Blvd
1993	Museum of Heart
1994	King of California
1996	Interstate City
1998	Blackjack David
2000	Public Domain
2002	Out in California (Live)
	Outtakes in California
2004	Ashgrove				38
2005	The Great American Music Galaxy
2006	West of the West			24	35
2007	Live from Austin, TX: Austin City Limits
2009	Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
2011	Eleven Eleven		159	4	31

Other contributions

• Eklektikos Live (2005) - "Blackjack David"
• Highway 61 Revisited Revisited, UNCUT (2005) - "Highway 61 Revisited"

References

• Dave Alvin profile
• Stambler, Irwin & Lyndon. (2001) Folk & Blues:The Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition. New York. St. Martin's Press. 4-7. ISBN 0-312-20057-9

External links

• Dave's new Homepage (although he still supports the .com site, too)
• Dave Alvin's Homepage
• Blaster's Newsletter with Dave Alvin news
• Official Facebook page
• Dave Alvin at Allmusic
• Dave Alvin at NPR Music
• Dave Alvin collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive