 "Dave
Alvin is one of American's most important figures." - Los
Angeles Times
"Alvin's voice has gained
the dignity his songs deserve - and as a master of small-town
laments, he ranks with Springsteen, John Hiatt, and the colloquial
Dylan." - Rolling Stone
In the years since Dave Alvin
formed the much-lauded seminal L.A. roots-rock band, The Blasters,
with his brother Phil in 1979, each album has shown a marked
creative progression as he develops his skills as a songwriter,
musician and singer. His solo debut, Romeo's Escape (1987)
included such gems as the anthemic "Fourth of July" (previously
covered by X, of which Alvin was a member back in the 1980's). His
first albums on HighTone, 1991's Blue Blvd. ("Haley's Comet,"
"Wanda and Duane," "Dry River") and 1993's
Museum of Heart ("Thirty Dollar Room," "Six Nights
a Week") were similar landmarks of progress. In 1994, Alvin
released King of California, a new high-water mark in his growth
as an artist ("Every Night About This Time," "Blue
Wing," "Border Radio," "King of
California"), which attracted even more focus to Alvin's
talents as a songwriter. Alvin returned to a more rockin' sound
with Interstate City in 1996. All along the way, Alvin also found
time to produce albums by Big Sandy & his Fly-Rite Boys, The
Derailers, and Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs. He co-produced
with Tom Russell HighTone's landmark record Tulare Dust: A
Songwriters' Tribute to Merle Haggard.
Blackjack David, in stores June
16, 1998, is Alvin's best statement yet about love, hope, and
despair. It is produced by Greg Leisz, who also produced King of
California, and who has been playing with Alvin since his first
solo album. One of the most in-demand players in the music
business, Leisz has also recorded with Smashing Pumpkins, Brian
Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Beck, Paula Cole, and k.d. lang. Greg plays
an assortment of guitars, mandolin, dobro, and banjo on the new
album, creating a musical palette for Dave Alvin's honest lyrics.
"I respect him more than any other musician I've worked with
in the last several years," says Alvin. "He makes me
sound good because he brings a certain polish to what I do. Greg
is used to working with so many different styles and is able to
harness my energies and direct them. We mesh really well."
Additional guests on the album
include fiddler Brantley Kearns (Dwight Yoakam), bassist Bob Glaub
(John Fogerty), bassist David Piltch (k.d. lang), accordion player
Chris Gaffney, and two regulars from Dave's Guilty Men touring
band: drummer Bobby Lloyd Hicks and bassist Gregory Boaz.
 With
the exception of the title track (a traditional song hauntingly
rendered by Alvin and Leisz), Dave Alvin writes or co-writes all
of the songs on Blackjack David. "California Snow" is
co-written with labelmate Tom Russell, "1968" with Chris
Gaffney, and "Tall Trees" with Fontaine Brown.
Alvin is a master storyteller,
and all of the songs on the new album combine a modern folk style
with elements of traditional folk, blues, rock, and country music.
Alvin's sound is steeped in historical perspective, yet it has a
contemporary feel. Dave Alvin writes about relationships that are
real, taking an honest look at his characters (and himself in the
process) and thinking aloud about the consequences of one's
actions.
"Most of the story songs I
write don't have endings," admits Alvin. "They leave
room for different interpretations." The title track is a
hybrid of several takes of this traditional song, mostly
influenced by the Cliff Carlisle and Warren Smith versions. "Abilene,"
a song he's been performing on the road for the past two years,
deals with the dark past of a wanderer with the hope of a brighter
future in the next town. "New Highway" is straight-ahead
country blues, ramblin' on a comfortable road of guitars,
mandolins, and percussion that brings you to your destination with
a smile. "I love the poetry of the blues," Alvin
enthuses. "'New Highway' represents an attitude I have
occasionally, especially after a few beers. While a number of my
songs are sad or reflective, this is a song that is none of those
things."
"'California Snow' was
inspired by newspaper accounts I read about enforcement of several
border crossings which drove people further north to freezing
weather, and eventually to death," says Alvin. "It
emphasizes my philosophy that the people who usually get screwed
are the people just trying to get by, whether they're to the left,
to the right, or in the center."
"Laurel Lynn" has a
bouncy, down-home quality to it, which Alvin describes as "Howlin'
Wolf doing a session with Cajun accordion player Nathan Abshire
and using Roy Acuff's band!"
"1968" is a touching
song, executed in a folk/bluegrass style, about a man coming (or
not coming) to grips with the buddy he lost in Vietnam in 1968.
"Whoever the great folk heroes were, they started out as real
people," says Alvin in discussing the inspiration for this
song. " If you're looking for them these days, you'll usually
find them in bars."
"From a Kitchen Table"
is a letter of confession written - but not delivered - by someone
who preferred to stay in his comfort zone rather than take a
chance on what might have been. "I believe there's still a
part of all of us that lives at home; part of us that hasn't done
the things we wanted to do, through circumstance or fear," he
says. The final track, "Tall Trees," is a personal
favorite of Alvin's, and one on which he's particularly proud of
his vocals.
With the release of Blackjack
David, Dave Alvin has once again upped the ante for other
roots-based singer/songwriters. Don't bet against him.
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PUBLIC DOMAIN
won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk
Album.
