Phil Alvin Benefit Issue

In This Issue: The Phil Alvin benefit concert, Dave Alvin as a co-writer, Dwight Yoakam, and all the latest news.

Dave Alvin (Facebook page) 3/29/13  - "Here is a recent snapshot of (L to R) brilliant bassist Bob Glaub, Guilty Gal vocalist Christy McWilson, drummer extraordinaire Don Heffington and me during a break from recording a song that will be featured in the upcoming episode of Justified. Also playing were my longtime pals Danny Ott and Rick Shea on guitars and the one and only Brantley Kearns on fiddle. I can't go wrong with this crew." - The song is Dave Alvin's version of the Darrell Scott song YOU'LL NEVER LEAVE HARLAN ALIVE. It was featured in the closing moments of the 4th season's finale of the FX hit TV show Justified (air date 4/213). The song is now available on iTunes and at the Yep Roc Store.
---  In January the first soundtrack CD for
Justified was released featuring 2 Dave Alvin songs: HARLAN COUNTY LINE and BEAUTIFUL CITY 'CROSS THE RIVER. 

Brotherly Love: A Night For Our Brother Phil Alvin
The Blasters    'X'     The Knitters     Los Lobos
By Billy Davis   photos by Gary Leonard

Dave Alvin Song Co-writing
by Tom Wilk

    Dave and Dwight performed together on Art Fein's "Lil Art's Poker Party" music talk show in January 1986. They played WHAT I DON'T KNOW and a medley of SWINGING DOORS and Patsy Cline's WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT on acoustic guitars. The performances can be seen on YouTube.
    McLeese views the Blasters and Yoakam connection as important in his career development. "Alvin heard something real in Dwight," McLeese writes: "and the Blasters adopted Dwight as their opening act, giving him the opportunity to make their crowd his crowd."
    In the studio, Gene Taylor of the Blasters played piano on Yoakam's version of the Johnny Cash hit RING OF FIRE on the
Guitars, Cadillacs album.
Yoakam returned the favor to Dave by covering his LONG WHITE CADILLAC on the 1989 best-of album Just
Lookin' for a Hit. The album, which reached No. 3 on the country charts, provided a much-needed infusion of cash for Dave. "I was about forty grand in debt, living hand to mouth," he told McLeese when Dwight made the recording.
    "I did it because I loved that song," Yoakam recounted to McLeese. "I thought it was one of the greatest songs ever written, a rock-and-roll homage to Hank Williams, who was essentially the first rock star."
    LONG WHITE CADILLAC also was included on
Dwight Live, a 1995 concert album, and Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years, a four-CD box set in 2002. Along with Shakin' Stevens' recording of MARIE MARIE, a Top 20 single in England, Dwight's version of LONG WHITE CADILLAC is the best-known cover of a Dave Alvin song.
    The last collaboration between Dwight and Dave came in 1991 when Dwight added backing vocals to HALEY'S COMET, one of the standout songs on Dave's debut album
Blue BLVD for HighTone Records. In 2002, Dave was a contributor to the liner notes for Reprise Please Baby. -- AM

AMERICAN  MUSIC: The Blasters / Dave Alvin newsletter
editor/writer: Billy Davis      editorial assistant: Craig Frischkorn   
contributing writer Tom Wilk
Publishing issues quarterly--ish.  www.BlastersNewsletter.com