dave alvin
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BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007: Watermelon Slim and the Workers; The Wheel Man (Southbound)
To be honest I didn't quite "get" the last, self-titled, album by this rough'n'ready bluesman, but I was clearly in the minority: the album won the Mojo magazine and the Independent Music Awards for blues album of the year, got six nominations at the Blues Music Awards and so on. And this album -- which I have to say I...
blues/1188/best-of-elsewhere-2007-watermelon-slim-and-the-workers-the-wheel-man-southbound/
Various: Wounded Heart of America; Tom Russell Songs (Hightone)
Some weeks ago I was invited to give a talk about some of my favourite music to a group of people in someone's home. It was a very pleasant night and the first few things I played were either by the American singer-songwriter Tom Russell or his songs sung by others (notably Joe Ely covering the dramatic Gallo Del Cielo which I said I could...
music/1339/various-wounded-heart-of-america-tom-russell-songs-hightone/
Peter Case: Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John (YepRoc Records)
Case used to be the mainman in the Plimsouls, a terrific and slightly ragged power pop band but he has enjoyed a long and diverse alt.country/alt.rock solo career -- as befits a man who was once married to Victoria Williams. On his superb self-titled debut in '86 he had John Hiatt and Roger McGuinn helping out, and down the decades he has...
music/1376/peter-case-let-us-now-praise-sleepy-john-yeproc-records/
Joan Armatrading: Into the Blues (Shock)
For years Armatrading - whose job description includes folk, reggae, rock, jazzy pop and so on -- had been promising herself she would write an album of songs within the the same genre. This is it, her "blues" album. But far from being a monochromatic trawl through same-same songs in a blues style she brings her inclusive musical...
James Luther Dickinson: Killers From Space (Memphis/Elite) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007
In a cover which looks like it was thought up by a couple of drug-addled on-line kids -- and with a title from a B-grade movie -- comes the latest album by one of the great ignored/overlooked/wayward talents from the South. This is a man for whom a never-recorded, whiskey-soaked Sun session overseen by a voodoo priestess with Mick'n'Keith (c...
music/1388/james-luther-dickinson-killers-from-space-memphis-elite-best-of-elsewhere-2007/
WATERMELON SLIM INTERVIEWED (2007): He's had interesting lives
“You tell them this,” says 58-year old bluesman Watermelon Slim in a voice which sounds like he has been gargling whisky-soaked nails. “God has blessed me with an extremely full and interesting life. It’s not all been fun or positive and I’m not proud of everything I’ve done. But I’ve been blessed to get...
blues/1881/watermelon-slim-interviewed-2007-hes-had-interesting-lives/
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women: Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women (YepRoc/Southbound)
Dave Alvin appeared at Elsewhere recently as the man behind the all-star tribute to his friend and accordionist in his band The Guilty Men, Chris Gaffney. This album owes its origins to the death of Gaffney in 2008: Alvin's Guilty Men weren't working after Gaffney's death but there was a gig scheduled so he needed to put something together...
music/2475/dave-alvin-and-the-guilty-women-dave-alvin-and-the-guilty-women-yeproc-southbound/
WATERMELON SLIM AND THE WORKERS; LIVE AT THE GROUND ZERO BLUES CLUB (NorthernBlues/Southbound DVD)
Watermelon Slim has lived quite some dangerous and interesting life (see interview here) and he owns a face which, we might charitably described as "lived in". In this DVD of him and his band live at Clarksdale's famous Ground Zero blues club, he tells of once waking up in the local hospital with a dislocated jaw and then driving...
Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters: Spread the Love (Stony Plain)
Blues guitarist Earl opens this typically free-wheeling, jazz-inflected instrumental album with a swinging treatment of Albert Collins' burning Backstroke -- then gets into a low mood on Blues For Dr Donna before the Hammond organ of Dave Limina kicks in for the sultry, midnight groove of Chitlins Con Carne . . . and we away go on another...
blues/3889/ronnie-earl-and-the-broadcasters-spread-the-love-stony-plain/
Watermelon Slim and Super Chicken: Okiesippi Blues (NorthernBlues)
In Clarksdale, Mississippi I saw a singer/guitarist who called himself Howl N Mudd, which was certainly a man covering his bases. (That story is here.) The juke joint he played in was very popular (be sure to read that piece of graffiti I quote) and recently Elsewhere reviewed a DVD of Watermelon Slim whiuch was filmed there. Slim has a...
blues/4245/watermelon-slim-and-super-chicken-okiesippi-blues-northernblues/
Dave Alvin: Eleven Eleven (YepRoc)
The former Blaster (a band he shared with his brother Phil) has been delivering his earthy, rootsy blues out there on the road for decades now. He was briefly in X and the Gun Club, but mostly he's been taking his dusty, country-edged dark baritone to narratives about what he sees out there: railroads and desert highways, the losers and lost,...
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alt.country bb king best of elsewhere 2006 best of elsewhere 2007 blues in elsewhere breaux bridge, louisiana buddy guy chicago blues chicken recipe chris gaffney deep in the arse of texas dr john dwight twilley eddie turner elmore james eric bibb eric clapton etta james felice brothers hacienda brothers james luther dickinson james mcmurtry jim white jimi hendrix joan armatrading joe ely john hiatt johnny cash josh rouse kris kristofferson lawrence ferlinghetti malcolm holcombe mofro north mississippi allstars peter case ramblin' jack elliott robert johnson robert randolph ronnie earl steve earle texas the rolling stones tom waits tom russell tom waits townes van zandt travelling riverside blues vietnam war watermelon slim