dave alvin from an old guitar

​Dave Alvin (from the album From an Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings available on Yep Roc Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Dave Alvin is a living history lesson. A dude well-versed in all the ones-that-came-before, a musician who made modern American Blues while being the guy that banged around with L.A.-based early 80’s Punk Rockers. Dave Alvin connects the dots between Watermelon Slim and Country Dick Montana, from Big Bill Broonzy to Billy Zoom. Dave Alvin’s latest From an Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings, an album of rarities and B-Sides, showcases all his chops and musical roles, from Folk songwriter to a Western Swing, through Cowpunk, and Cosmic Country. Instrumentally Alvin performs in top form, “Perdido Street Blues” is a bouncy Ragtime hoot, the barroom piano and pedal steel guitar perfect partners to Alvin’s acoustic picking while “(Variation’s on Earl Lee Hooker’s) Guitar Rumba” is a Bossa Nova blast with Dave’s guitar being a solo aggressor.
Dave Alvin’s warm croon wraps around you like a blanket in the laid back, Chris Smither-penned “Link of Chain” while he lays out a mysterious, spoken word version of “Highway 61 Revisited”. Dave Alvin nods to his running buddy and bandmate, the late Chris Gaffney, on a Boogie Blues version of “Albuquerque”, a grooving swing ode to the ‘pretty senorita’s and the Navaho’ that should be picked up as an anthem for the Duke City. Dave Alvin is a bluesman, sneaking off to see soon-to-be Blues heroes as a boy. The influence is obvious on the instrumental “Krazy and Ignatz” and the gritty and dirty “Peace”. Dave Alvin, however, won’t be pigeonholed, taking no liberties on the good-time Doug Sahm cut “Dynamite Woman.” A good insight into Dave Alvin’s record collection, and what makes his musical clock tick, From an Old Guitar also features cuts from Peter Case, Mickey Newbury and Marty Robbins. (by Bryant Liggett)
 
Listen and buy the music of Dave Alvin from AMAZON
For more information head over to the Dave Alvin website
 

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