There he was on stage, under a western style hat, wearing his now familiar blue denim shirt, blue jeans and trademark red bandana around his neck. As the California dusk fell gently on   
a near perfect day, he wore a light leather jacket to keep the slightly chilled, ocean breeze at bay. He was standing in a pair of cowboy boots and behind his battered Strat. His aviator style sunglasses reflected a strand of palm trees and the waves crashing on the beach not more than 100 yards away.

He took a sip of beer and allowed a broad, if not a slightly crooked smile to pierce his lips. Why not? He just heard his older brother sing and breathe new life into one of his old songs. The tune was played with a scorching intensity by his old band and featured one of his own buzz saw like solos that threatened to knock the nearby surfers right off their boards.

It was May 22, 2011, Dave Alvin made a very rare reunion appearance with the other original Blasters. They reminded everyone in attendance that there is simply nothing like this band when they are playing their unique blend of American music at full throttle. Dave and Phil
Alvin were joined by fellow Downey, CA natives Johnny Bazz on bass and Bill Bateman on drums. Piano player Gene Taylor was even flown in from Europe just for the occasion. Their performance on this late afternoon day in May was like everything Dave Alvin does, in that it was deeply informed in the blues as well as the other branches that hang not too far from that sturdy trunk. The Blasters performed with confidence, bravado and swagger. For anyone who has ever seen them play, they expected nothing less.

It seems that Dave Alvin was put on this planet to remind the world what a rich musical history, culture and legacy California has enjoyed. In the home of Trendville, U.S.A. lies a deeply rooted musical heritage that runs directly through Dave Alvin and his older brother Phil. They have served as a living reminder that Southern California is more than Disneyland, sun tans and movie stars. There is nothing remotely Mickey Mouse, golden bronzed or glamorous about the brothers Alvin or their world view from a California perspective.

On June 21, 2011 another chapter unfolds in Dave Alvin’s long and distinguished career. This is the official release date of his Yep Roc record entitled Eleven Eleven. The album
features, you guessed it, eleven brand new Dave Alvin originals that even at first listen, sound like timeless classics.

The record is as raw, rootsy and bluesy as anything Alvin has put out since 2004’s The Ashgrove. In this stripped down, guitar ripping album, Alvin explores a variety of themes with a sharp sense of irony and unflinching honesty. In four songs Alvin even directly references the possibility of a heaven and hell, not as a metaphor but wondering if these may be two places he might find some recently departed friends. As a man who is on the back side of middle age, death has become more than an abstract concept. The album isn’t by any means an exercise in morbidity but another examination at the harsh realities of life. Like all great blues music, we find Alvin confronting these realities head on and sharing his experiences in an extremely compelling way.

It is a terrifically sad irony that the last song on the album is the lightest, most upbeat number on the entire record. It has Alvin doing a duet with his very close friend and musical colleague Chris Gaffney. The song originally recorded with the thought it might bring a smile to our faces now has a tear running down our cheek as well. The cold hard fact that Gaff is no longer with us makes this tune extremely bittersweet. In the song Two Lucky Bums the two kindred spirits swap vocals in front of Alvin’s jazzy guitar lines and Gaffney’s accordion.

Alvin’s guitar on Two Lucky Bums, stands in sharp contrast to the previous tune entitled Dirty Nightgown in which Alvin tells a story of lust over rock heavy guitar riffs and a relentless pile driving drum beat.

In the song Manzanita, a lovely folk ballad opens with a light acoustic guitar line and yields to a tasteful slide as he shares vocal duties with Christy McWilson.

There is yet another duet on the album which no doubt will garner a lot of attention. It is the most straight ahead blues number on the album and it opens with a taste of harp and a greasy back beat. It is the first time the brothers Alvin have ever done a vocal duet. The autobiographical inspired number in which both brothers repeat the question often posed to them which is, What’s Up With Your Brother? Dave’s deep soft spoken baritone stands in sharp contrast to Phil’s instantly recognizable, absolutely one of a kind vocal style that sounds something like Big Joe Turner if he grew up in Appalachia.

Alvin teams up with another former Blaster on Gary, Indiana 1959. It is the rollicking barrelhouse piano of Gene Taylor that is heard in this song about organized labor and the death of the working class in America.

In the song Run Conejo Run, Alvin sings about a long lost friend and former golden gloves champion in front of a Bo Diddley beat which creates the perfect setting for a story about bobbing and weaving throughout the southwest.

In other Alvin songs he tells tales of a reluctant bounty hunter in Murrieta’s Head and of a drug runner in No Worries Mija.

Alvin also shares with us the tragic story of the great rhythm and blues singer Johnny Ace. With historical accuracy that includes references to the ruthlessly opportunistic Duke/Peacock Records company owner Don Robey and Ace’s fellow performer that night, Big Mama Thornton, Alvin takes you back to that fateful night in Houston in the song Johnny Ace is Dead.

Things get more personal on the following track as Alvin sings about another friend that he lost in recent years, Amy Farris. He sings a ballad that has his slide crying along with the rest of us. The song Black Rose of Texas is so heartfelt you can almost hear Alvin’s deep, masculine but often vulnerable voice crack as he yearns to see his friend just once more.

There isn’t a clunker on Eleven Eleven. Even though this album represents somewhat of a departure for Alvin, it is in many ways quintessential Alvin. It is great story telling on a stark canvas of bare bones guitar based music that is richly textured using several of the great southwestern musical traditions.

Just about anything Dave Alvin does meets with my highest recommendation, this record is no exception. Dave Alvin is a fourth generation Californian who makes this first generation native of the Golden State very proud of his heritage. He carries on the traditions of West Coast Blues, Bakersfield country and a blue collar, populist sensibility and mixes them up to create Dave Alvin music. What is often called roots music simply doesn’t get any better.

-David Mac

Other recommended listening:

Blue Blvd. (1991)

King of California (1994)

Ashgrove (2004)

West of the West (2006)