Dave Alvin's next album will be a collection of California songwriters songs done Dave Alvin style. Dave: "There will be some Dave Alvin songs, Dave and Tom Russell songs. There will be writers you never heard of and songs by famous people. Tom Waits gave me a song he has never recorded, Jackson Browne, David and Louis from Los Lobos did too. There is everything from Merle Haggard to Brian Wilson to Jerry Garcia. It's gonna be all over the place. It's something I've wanted to do for years."

     Song List: "California Bloodlines" by John Stewart, "Surfer Girl" by Brian Wilson, "Redneck Friend" by Jackson Browne, "Tramps and Hawkers" by Jim Ringer, "I'm Bewildered" by Richard Berry (he wrote "Louie Louie"), "Kern River" by Merle Haggard, "Down on the River Bed" by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez from Los Lobos, "Here In California" by Kate Wolf, "Loser" by Jerry Garcia, "Don't Look Now" by John Fogerty, "Blind Love" by Tom Waits, "Between the Cracks" by Dave and Tom Russell, and "Sonora's Death Row" by Blackie Farrell.

    Dave: " The Guilty Men and Chris Gaffney are on the record as are the Ashgrove session musicians Don Heffington and Bob Glaub. Christie McWilson sings a duet with me. The Calvanes will be on "Surfer Girl" and "I'm Bewildered." On "I'm Bewildered" I imagined Richard Berry and Johnny Guitar Watson together, even though they never made records together. This was my chance to imagine that they had made a record together. I do my best Johnny Guitar Watson imitation on guitar."
 
   Dave: "None of the songs sound like the originals. Maybe they have the same vibe, but bear no resemblance at all to the originals. The Tom Waits song is done like a Jimmy Reed blues song. Jackson Browne's song is done like a blues number. The end result is that they all sound like Dave Alvin songs."

      "I thought it was gonna be mainly an acoustic record but when it's all said and done it's a combo - a tad more acoustic than Ashgrove but there are loud guitars all over it."

     What will Dave do next? Dave: "I'll be doing an electric band tour after the record comes out. Then after that I'd like to have a Dave Alvin record (with original songs) out in late 2006. --AM.

& B. So we got an R & B group to re-sing the harmonies."
     Dave: "After all the recording was done, they flew me out to Baltimore for a day to see the movie set. I met John Waters there for the first time in person. They sent me a beautiful varsity jacket that I've since lost. It had a Cry-Baby logo on the back and it said "Hero Dave" on the front. John Waters considered me a hero for saving the rockabilly stuff. I've seen John Waters after the project was finished and he was very appreciative."
     What did Dave think of the finished movie? Dave: "The script that I originally saw was a different movie. The studio made Waters edit stuff out. I was a little disappointed at the final product, because I thought a lot of the John Waters-izms were taken out.
There was a scene of Traci Lords doing a Betty Page photo session that was edited. Another was a scene where all the characters barfed - that was edited."
     Looking back, Dave has some trouble remembering details of 1989 which he calls "a distressing time." Dave: "The Cry-Baby music was great but it's not a period of my life that I look back on with any fondness."
     Cry-Baby may breath new life because of the success of another Waters' film Hairspray which became a hit play on broadway. Plans are being considered to bring Cry-Baby to Broadway. Dave: "My feeling is they have to use KING CRY-BABY. For Hairspray they didn't use Rachael Sweet's main theme song in the play, they wrote new songs." Reportedly, Waters has hired Fountains of Wayne members to write new songs for Cry-Baby. Dave still holds out hope his songs will make it to Broadway.

Watch the Cry-Baby DVD directors cut to see the movie, deleted scenes, and a documentary on the making of the movie. Dave Alvin is featured in some of the interviews. Check out the Cry-Baby soundtrack CD on MCA Records to hear the 3 Dave produced songs sung by James Intveld. ~~ AM