Dave Alvin News
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Dave Alvin Gets Off The Interstate Just Long Enough
To Win A Grammy
by Billy Davis
Dave Alvin's PUBLIC DOMAIN: SONGS FROM THE
WILD LAND recently won a Grammy
for Best Traditional Folk album. Go Dave!
February 21, 2001 Can you picture Dave driving his van in traffic
amongst all the limousines, trying to make it on time to the 43rd Annual Grammy
Awards at the Staple Center in Los Angeles? Dave loves being in that van. But
that's Dave Alvin. He has written ten albums in his twenty years of music,
never compromising to music biz pressure and always making music the way he
wants to hear it. No one is more deserving!
Back in January, Dave learned of the nomination. Dave: "I'm floating on cloud
nine. As corny as it sounds, it's amazing to be nominated. You put a lot of
time in a studio and band and this is how you get paid back."
The day of the awards presentation, Dave had a secret weapon good luck charm
as he recalls: "I was walking out the door and thought, 'I need something for
good luck, I have to have something for good luck! The scarf!!!' I've kept it
in a secret place all these years, so I got it out, and put it on. That's the
scarf I wore on the Rollin Rock album and on all the Blasters album covers. I
was convinced it was 'The Magic Blasters Scarf' that did it. It's pretty worn
and frail, but it felt good putting it back on." [ed: See front page
photo.]
When Dave won, he says he couldn't have been more surprised so he "winged it"
on his acceptance speech. Here is what he said: "Thanks! This is for my
mother and my father, my brother Phil, my sister Mary, my love Mary, all the
musicians that played on the record, and all the musicians across the
country, who are in vans pulling into truck-stops on the way to gigs and
beer joints. Thanks."
Dave was interviewed backstage by the Grammy people for their official record
and here is how the interview went:
The Grammys: We're backstage at the Grammys with the Best Traditional Folk
album winner Dave Alvin. How does it feel?
Dave: Ah, eh, it feels like I drank about 27 Red Bulls all at once. I am
rushin' man! I could run around the world right now.
Grammys: A shot of energy, oh my! Now who's the first person you'll call to
share the good news?
Dave: My girlfriend is sitting right next to me, so that was it. But, as soon
as I can get outside to have a cigarette I gotta call everybody on earth. I'm
gonna go scream!
Grammys: How were you introduced to Folk music that perpetuated you being a
folk artist your self.
Dave: My brother and I had great cousins who taught us about music. My
brother Phil and I would sneak into blues clubs to see guys like Lightnin'
Hopkins, Big Joe Turner, Lee Allen. T-Bone Walker, and Eddie Cleanhead
Vinson. So that's where it all began for me.
Grammys: Congratulations on your Grammy win and Thank you.
Dave made press all over the country with an end - all comment to a tired
Grammy awards topic. Here is how the AP paragraph went, setting up Dave's
comment: "In the press room, talk of Eminem dominated: Grammy winners from
Christian bands like Petra to blues men like Taj Mahal were asked for their
opinions. One of the best answers came from the winner of best traditional
folk album Grammy, Dave Alvin, whose opinion on Eminem was, "I like the brown
ones.""
In another press interview Dave was asked, "What will you do next?" He
replied, "It's all down hill from here. I'm gonna sell this award, and buy a
farm." The interviewer came back with, "I really hope that isn't your plan?"
Dave grinned and said, "I doubt it (laughs)."
Dave and the Guilty Men are now at work in the studio, working on the new
album (due for release in Augist) entitled Public Domain.
Sounds like it's going ot be a great album. Dave says the name describes
the contents: It's called
"Public Domain" and that is exactly what it is, all public domain songs.
That means songs so old nobody knows who wrote 'em so nobody can claim the
publishing. Dave says it's an album he's been wanting to do for a
long time, and he finally decided this is the time. Also featured will be
Greg Leisz and Brantley Kearns on the fiddle.
Rick Shea will be releasing his second full length CD in mid November
titled Shakey Ground. The CD will include all of Rick's
1991 (and out of print) album Outside of Nashville along with 5
recently recorded tracks. The CD will be a limited release and will be
available by mailorder by sending $16 post paid to Rick Shea, PO Box
294, Covina, CA 91723
He will be doing record release parties through November.:
11/9 at Jacks Sugar Shack in Hollywood CA
11/11 at Jacks with Don Wallsner
11/13 at Viva Fresh in Los Angeles
11/15 at Viva Fresh in Los Angles
Little Milton's new 14 Sep 99 release, Welcome to Little
Milton on the Malaco label features Dave on
two tracks: Never Trust a Woman and Lump on your
Stump. Also featured are Govt. Mule, Keb' Mo', Lucinda Williams,
Peter Wolf, Delbert McClinton, and others.
Win tickets to Dave Alvin T-town radio
show taping
On May 9, 1999, at 7:00pm at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado
(2034 14th St - doors open at 6pm), Dave will be doing a live taping
for the E-Town radio show. Billy Davis
is holding a lottery to give away 4 tickets to the taping. Here are the
details from Billy:
Anyone can enter the lottery by sending me
an e-mail with your name, phone number and e-mail address. 4
winners will be randomly chosen. Each winner can bring a guest. The
lottery closes at 12 midnight on Thursday May 6, 1999. Winners will be
notified on Friday May 7, 1999 Your name will be put on a list to enter
the taping. Please do not enter the lottery, unless you are serious
about attending. This contest is being organized by me (Billy Davis)
and Dave Alvin's managment. E-Town has no information on this contest
so don't contact them or send entries to them. Any questions contact
Davistb@aol.com.
Dave said he had a great time on the recent tour. Chicago, New York,
and Tampa were great attendance shows.
Chris Gaffney will
be coming out again on tour with Dave in the summer. Dave will most
likely be bringing
Rich Shea with
him as an acoustic duo on his summer west coast solo shows. Dave on
Rick Shea: Last year he was fighting the road a little, but now its
"Any time, any where -- Lets go!"
On March 22, 99 Dave was interviewed for Acoustic Guitar magazine for a
future issue. Blackjack David
is just being released in England. The new issue of Mojo Mag has a great
review of BJD naming it the Americana album of the month. Recently
the Sunday London Times had a great review. Dave says, That
was a stunning little thing because we never even got that with the
Blasters.
Dave just played on Buddy Blue's new album sessions. Buddy reports,
Last weekend Dave Alvin played a mean-assed guitar solo on "Milky Way
Blues" and we did some inebriated acoustic things that'll probably show
up as hidden tracks. I know I say this every time I make an album but I
gotta tell ya I think this'll be the best one yet!
April: Dave will be recording a session for a Little
Milton tribute album. Little Milton is a blues legend who recorded for
Sun records in the fifties. Dave will be playing on Ramblin Jack
Elliott's new album sessions in San Francisco. Dave will be producing a
4 song session for Christie McWilson. The seattle based singer from
the Picketts will be looking for a label to release the recordings.
May: Producing Katy Moffatt. Dave will tour doing
acoustic duo shows with Rick Shea Amazon is taking preorders for Dave
Alvin's next book even though the book isn't finished.
Have you heard of these Yahoo on-line fan clubs? Well I've set one up for
the Blasters and Dave Alvin called American Music.
Below are instructions to get there:
goto www.yahoo.com
click on "more" (only if clubs is not listed on main page)
then click on"clubs"
enter "American Music" (with quotes) in Search box
club will come up as a match to the search, click on it.
In the upper right hand screen will be the button to join.
You must be registered with Yahoo to join a club. Although it's not necessary
just to search through clubs or read posts, only members can post themselves
or chat. On the clubs screen will be a link for signing up - then just follow
their directions. Don't worry...Yahoo accounts are free.
A song from Dave's Blackjack
David album will be included on a compilation album of
singer/songwriters called Luxury Liner vol. III. The album
will be out in November on Glitterhouse Records, a fine German indie
label for "alt.country" and related music. Some of the other artists
featured on the album are Buddy Miller, Duane Jarvis, Vic Chesnutt
and one Markus Rill from Germany. The album can be ordered from mailorder@glitterhouse.owis.de.
Submitted by Markus Rill
The Cartoon Network called, wanted some music for a new show that
will be shown in the Asian market this fall, We sent in a theme song
demo, and they went for it! So we put together the theme plus 11
other pieces of incidental music for a show called "'Toons A Go Go",
which will be shown in the Orient this fall.
Two days after we pulled the cartoon music together, Rudy"Tutti"
Grazell came to town to do a new album for the Sideburns label..(a rock
off-shoot of the blues label Burnside). It's a rockin' record covering
his classics "Ducktails", "F.B.I. Story", and "Let's Get Wild" plus ten
others...and once again Donnie played his ass off !!!!!
The only other news is that Joe Terry (Skeletons' keyboardist) will
be out this summer and fall with Dave Alvin...so it should be a
rockin' good summer!
Submitted by Bobby Lloyd Hicks
Dave will be on a Southern California radio show called Folkscene
on the 31st of May. Take a listen, and if you can record it, please
let me know!
Dave's new album, Blackjack David, is sheduled to come out on
the 16th of June. His production on the Red Meat album is
done and that's
working its way through the machine as well. (Red Meat is a SF band with
Mid-West roots playing some serious Honky Tonk. I could say more, but
they have their own WWW site at :
http://home.earthlink.net/~lesjames/.)
Dave is going out on tour again soon, but plans to
spend a few days in Springfield MO with King Clarenz, a loud Delta Blues
guitarist, recording an album with him and the band, before it
starts. Dave's hoping to get it all done in 3 days. Dave just got back
from the Monsters of Folk tour and had a blast, as usual. Only problem,
he said, was the increasingly smaller spaces they give you on
airplanes these days....
Dave and crew just finished recording the new album, Blackjack
David which should see release in June. The recording took
longer than expected (about 6 weeks recording time), so the new book
expected out by now will be further delayed. Dave's hoping for a
summer release. In the meantime, he's producing the new album for
Red Meat, a San Francisco band I've not heard of,
but hope to have some info. on soon. (See the link in the report above.)
The Grammy for best album notes went to
John Fahey, Luis Kemnitzer, Jon Pankake, Chuck Pirtle, Jeff Place,
Neil V. Rosenberg, Luc Sante, Peter Stampfel, and Eric Von Schmidt
for the notes form the Smithsonian Folkways Recording release of
the Anthology of American Folk Music. Dave, see next
article, was also nominated in this category.
Dave has recently been nominated for a Grammy award in the Liner
Notes category. The award is for the liner notes he worked on
in collaboration with Ahmet Ertegun and a few others for the recent Ray
Charles box set on Rhino. It's funny that Dave gets noticed for liner
notes and not lyrics, but it's a start. Good luck, Dave!
The Dave Alvin produced new Derailers album,
Reverb Deluxe
is scheduled to be released 18 November. I saw Dave and the Derailers at a
recent gig in Hollywood and both were hot. Do check out this album when it
comes out.
- Dave will be appearing on the Bruce Springsteen tribute CD with a song
called Seeds (on Capital Records)
- The Derailers forthcoming CD, that Dave produced will be in
stores in November
- Dave will be producing Katy Moffat's new CD that will come out in Feb
98-March 98
- Dave's new CD will be set for May-June 98 (Like King of California, it will be produced by Greg
Leisz)
- A live version of Barn Burning featuring both
Dave and Greg Leisz for the FolkScene Radioshow -coming out on a Red
House Records label of FolkScene anthology performances
Dave will have a track, Seeds on the upcoming Bruce
Springsteen tribute album. It's due for release 23 Sep and Dave is quite
proud of his contribution, saying it's really a Dave Alvin tune now.
Dave's next studio album is going to be in the vein of King Of
California. Greg Leisz is producing and will start rehearsals with
Dave in November. Greg is currently on tour with K.D. Lang. In late
December the recordings will begin and they will finish in January.
They are trying to make a May release date. Some song titles include
Abilene, Mary Brown, Evening
Blues, and a song Dave is really excited about, as he explains,
"It's going to have a clever name or a mundane name like I Hate
the Way You Say Goodbye."
In the spring Dave will be going back to the producers seat to "make a
tougher record" for Katy Moffat.
Dave has a new book coming out entitled, The Crazy Ones. It
should hit the streets in December. You can get more info from the
above link, or Incommunicado's WWW
Page.
A couple of months ago, I sent a question for
Dave regarding performing in Syracuse and working with the Skeletons.
At the time, there were no plans to be in Syracuse and no word on the
Skeletons. (By the way, the monster drummer on Dave's new live disc is
Bobby Lloyd Hicks who is a Skeleton.) Well, Well - for all Skeletons
fans (and if you like Dave, you ought to like these guys), they are
scheduled to release a disc on Hightone (Dave's label) on April 15th.
In addition, Dave is scheduled to perform at the Happy Endings
Coffeehouse in Syracuse on March 2nd. I presume this will be a solo gig
and may include some poetry reading. Hopefully, the front row will be
full of my friends and myself and perhaps I'll send in a review of the
show.
Submitted by Wayne Stevens
Ray Campi Album
Ray Campli has just finished a new album,
Train Rhythm Blue, for the Sci Fi Western label. Dave
guests on three songs, which are his own Burning In Water,
Drowning In Flame, Stan Ridgway's Luther Played
Guitar, and an original entitled An Honest Bar.
Dave plays solos on the first two, and nararates on the third. Other
guests include Stan Ridgway, Greg Leisz, and Tony Gilkyson. Dave
produced and played guitar, Rip Masters handeled piano, DJ
Bonebrake on drums, and Ray sang and played bass. The record is scheduled
to be out in May.
Dave has been busy of late.
He is working on a new Derailers album, which if it is anything like
the last one, will be a must-have. Also rumored is upcoming studio work
for a new album coming next year on Hightone. Dave also recently laid
down some tracks for a future Ray Campi album. Be on the watch for
it.
Live album to be released 30July 1996.
The rumor mill has it that Dave's recently-recorded live album
will be released on July 30th. The album should be titled Interstate
City, which is also the title of a new song to be featured on the
album.
Dave Alvin to Tour Australia.
Come April, Dave will be performing a few shows in Australia: Sydney,
Melbourne, and Cairns along with the Byron Bay East coast Blues Festival.
The only thing that makes Dave nervous about the trip
is the 18 hour plane trip without a cigarette! Luckily, if he's leaving
from LA, it should only be 12-14 hours unless he's making a stop along the
way.
New Dave Alvin Album.
Dave Alvin, having just finished the Derailers production
and currently touring Australia,
plans to record his own album in Austin this May. Plans are for a live album
to be recorded at Austin's Continental Club to be released in August. See
the Upcoming Shows section for more
information.
Dave Alvin produces Derailers album.
Dave has been in Austin, Texas quite a bit lately producing an album for the
band The Derailers, called Jackpot.
The album is out now and is
a must for anyone that is a fan of pure honky-tonk sounds. He also
performed on stage with the Blasters during their recent Austin gig, sitting
in for a couple songs, including trademark, Marie Marie.
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Last modified 26Feb01
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