Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin
Promo shot taken for 2011 album Eleven Eleven
Background information
Born	(1955-11-11) November 11, 1955
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

David Albert "Dave" Alvin (born November 11, 1955, in Downey, California), is a Grammy award winning guitarist, singer and songwriter and a proponent of Americana music. He is a former member of The Blasters, X, and The Knitters.

Early life

Alvin and his older brother Phil grew up in Downey, California. As teenagers, they attended blues, rockabilly, and country venues and heard musicians such as T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, and Lee Allen.

Career

In 1979 Alvin and his brother formed a roots rock band called The Blasters with fellow residents Bill Bateman and John Bazz. Despite an enthusiastic local following and dedicated fans across the United States and Europe, Alvin left the band in 1986 and became the lead guitarist of the band, X. Alvin left X to work on a solo project after they recorded their album See How We Are. Alvin became a member of country band The Knitters and appeared on their 1987 album Poor Little Critter on the Road and their 2005 follow-up, The Modern Sounds of The Knitters.

In the early 1980s Alvin, along with fellow Blasters members Bill Bateman and Steve Berlin, performed on several albums with the Los Angeles punk band The Flesh Eaters. Alvin also played with the The Gun Club and on two songs from their 1984 album, The Las Vegas Story.

Solo

Alvin's first solo album, entitled Romeo's Escape (entitled Every Night About This Time in England) was critically well received, but didn't fare well in the marketplace, and Alvin was dropped by his American record label, Columbia. Alvin toured with Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana as the Pleasure Barons and they released a live album of their 1993 tour.

In 1989, Dwight Yoakam recorded Alvin's song "Long White Cadillac". Alvin released his album Blue Blvd Hightone Records in 1991 and received positive reviews and moderate sales. After releasing Museum of Heart in 1993, Alvin recorded an album of acoustic music in 1994 called King of California. In 2000, Alvin recorded a collection of traditional folk and blues classics called, Public Domain: Songs From the Wild Land, which earned him a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, Alvin released the album Eleven Eleven on Yep Roc Records. The album was a return to Alvin's rock roots and Rolling Stone magazine called him "an under recognized guitar hero."

Dave Alvin (2005)

Alvin has worked as a producer for Chris Gaffney, Tom Russell, the Derailers, and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, and has collaborated with rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess. Alvin has worked as a studio session musician for Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Little Milton, Katy Moffatt, and Syd Straw.

He has published two books of poetry: 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 and in the anthologies: Nude Erections, Hit And Run Poets and Poetry Loves Poetry—An Anthology of Los Angeles Poets.

He appeared in the movies Border Radio and Floundering and on the FX television series "Justified" in 2011 as well as on Streets of Fire with The Blasters in 1984.

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"

Music used in popular culture

The song "Dark Eyes", from the album "Public Domain", can be heard playing over the radio during the third season of Six Feet Under in the episode, "You Never Know". The song "Dark Night", as recorded by The Blasters plays over the opening sequence of the movie "From Dusk till Dawn". The song "So Long Baby Goodbye", as recorded by The Blasters, plays over a scene in the film "Bull Durham".

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

• Official web site
• Official Facebook page
• Dave Alvin at NPR Music
• Dave Alvin collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive