Dave Alvin
(born November 11, 1955, in Downey, California), is a guitarist, singer and songwriter.
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DAVE ALVIN TICKETS
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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
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.
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 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
The Knitters discography
- Poor Little Critter on the Road
- 1985
- The Modern Sounds of the Knitters
- 2005
Dave Alvin discography
| Year
| Album
| Chart Positions
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| US Country
| US
| US Heat
| US Indie
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| 1987
| Romeo's Escape
| 60
| 116
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| 1991
| Blue Blvd
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| 1993
| Museum of Heart
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| 1994
| King of California
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| 1996
| Interstate City
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| 1998
| Blackjack David
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| 2000
| Public Domain
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| 2002
| Out in California
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| Outtakes in California
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| 2004
| Ashgrove
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| 38
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| 2005
| The Great American Music Galaxy
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| 2006
| West of the West
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| 24
| 35
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| 2007
| Live from Austin, TX: Austin City Limits
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| 2009
| Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
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Other contributions
- Eklektikos Live
(2005) - "Blackjack David"
References