Dave Alvin
Encyclopedia
Dave Alvin is a 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.
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.
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.
. 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.
, performed on several albums with the Los Angeles punk band The Flesh Eaters
. These albums are considered precursors to what is now called "deathrock
".
playing guitar on "Eternally Is Here" & "The Stranger in Our Town" from the 1984 album, The Las Vegas Story
.
. 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."
, 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.
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. 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.
Early musical influences
Dave and his older brother PhilPhil Alvin
Phil Alvin is an American singer and guitarist. He is known primarily as the frontman of the roots-rock band The Blasters.Alvin grew up in Downey, California in a music-loving family where he and his younger brother...
grew up in a music-loving family in Downey, California. As teenagers, they regularly attended blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
night clubs where they saw performances by greats like T-Bone Walker
T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...
, Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
, and Lee Allen
Lee Allen (musician)
Lee Allen was an American tenor saxophone player born in Pittsburg, Kansas.A key figure in the New Orleans rock and roll scene of the 1950s, Allen recorded with many leading performers of the early rock and roll era...
, who later joined Dave and Phil in The Blasters.
The Blasters
In 1979 Dave and his brother formed roots rockRoots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
group The Blasters
The Blasters
The Blasters are a rock and roll music group formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin and Dave Alvin , with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman. Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band's name: "I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had...
with fellow Downey, California residents Bill Bateman and John Bazz. The Blasters became a sensation in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and won an enthusiastic cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. 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 ZoomBilly Zoom
Billy Zoom is an American guitarist, best known as one of the founders of the punk rock band X.-Early life:...
. Alvin amicably left the group to work on a solo project shortly after the recording sessions for their album See How We Are
See How We Are
See How We Are is the sixth album by X.It was their first album without founding guitarist Billy Zoom, who was replaced by ex-Blasters guitarist Dave Alvin for the album's recording sessions and some live shows...
. Dave is also a member of country band The Knitters
The Knitters
The Knitters are a Los Angeles-based band who play country, rockabilly and folk music. At the time of their formation they were pioneers of country punk, cowpunk or folk punk, the genre which gradually evolved into alternative country...
(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 BerlinSteve Berlin
Steve Berlin is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs, The Blasters, and The Flesh Eaters...
, performed on several albums with the Los Angeles punk band The Flesh Eaters
The Flesh Eaters (band)
The Flesh Eaters are an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1977. They are the most prominent of the bands which have showcased the compositions and singing of their founder, punk poet Chris Desjardins, known as...
. These albums are considered precursors to what is now called "deathrock
Deathrock
Deathrock is a term used to identify a sub-genre of punk rock incorporating horror elements and spooky atmospherics, that emerged on the West Coast of the United States in 1979.-Characteristics:...
".
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
The Las Vegas Story (album)
The Las Vegas Story is the third studio album by punk blues group The Gun Club, released in 1984. This album saw the return of founding member and lead guitarist Kid Congo Powers, after a three year stint with The Cramps.-Track listing:...
.
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, ColumbiaColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. Alvin suffered health problems which sidelined him for a while, except for a wild tour with friends Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon is an American musician, known for playing psychobilly music...
and Country Dick Montana
Beat Farmers
The Beat Farmers were a cowpunk band who formed in San Diego, California, in August 1983, and enjoyed a cult following throughout the 1980s and early 1990s before the premature death of lead singer and drummer Country Dick Montana...
as the Pleasure Barons, which was described as "a Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
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
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
scored a hit on the country charts with Alvin's song "Long White Cadillac", and Alvin used the royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
to start work on his second solo set, Blue Blvd. Released by the California-based roots-music label Hightone Records
HighTone Records
HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
in 1991, Blue Blvd received enthusiastic reviews and sold well enough to re-establish Alvin as a significant artist in the roots rock
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
scene.
After releasing Museum of Heart in 1993, Alvin began to turn his attention to acoustic music
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
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
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
Album.
In 2011, Alvin released the album Eleven Eleven on Yep Roc Records
Yep Roc Records
Yep Roc Records is an independent International record label based in Haw River, North Carolina and owned by Redeye Distribution . The label has put out albums by artists like The Go-Betweens, The Fleshtones, Gang of Four, The Reverend Horton Heat, and The Minus 5, as well as the work of important...
. 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."
Other projects
When not busy recording his own music, Alvin has also worked as a producer for several other roots-oriented acts, including Chris GaffneyChris Gaffney
Chris Gaffney was an American singer and songwriter from the Southwest. His career, both as a solo musician and as a member of several bands, was as eclectic as his musical tastes. Although he never achieved widespread fame, Gaffney, who died at the age of 57 from liver cancer, left his mark on...
, Tom Russell
Tom Russell
Thomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...
, the Derailers, and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys is a western swing/country boogie musical band from California.They began as rockabilly revivalists in the late 1980s, then dug deeper into the music which rockabilly came from: western swing and particularly the country boogie style of the late 1940s and early 1950s,...
, as well as collaborating with rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
legend Sonny Burgess
Sonny Burgess
Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess is an American rockabilly guitarist and singer....
. As a sideman, Alvin has recorded sessions with the likes of Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
, Little Milton
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...
, Katy Moffatt
Katy Moffatt
Katherine Louella "Katy" Moffatt is an American musician, lyricist, composer, vocalist. She is the sister of country singer-songwriter Hugh Moffatt.-Midnight Radio:...
, and Syd Straw
Syd Straw
Syd Straw is an American rock singer and songwriter. The daughter of actor Jack Straw , she began her career singing backup for Pat Benatar, then took her distinct voice to the indie/alternative scene and joined the Golden Palominos...
.
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
Border Radio
Border Radio is a 1987 independent film directed by Allison Anders, Dean Lent and Kurt Voss, in which two musicians and a roadie who haven't been paid rob money from a club and one flees to Mexico leaving his wife and daughter behind...
(1987) and as "Chauffeur" in Floundering (1994). He appeared on the FX television series "Justified" (2011). He also appeared in Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
(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
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 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
US Indie Independent Albums The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels... |
||
| 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, UNCUTUNCUT (magazine)Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
(2005) - "Highway 61 Revisited"
External links
- Dave's new Homepage (although he still supports the com site, too)
- Dave Alvin's Homepage
- Official Facebook page
- Dave Alvin at NPR Music
- Dave Alvin collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive