King of California

Last night, I heard and saw Dave Alvin (performing with his band, The Guilty Women) for the first time. I never heard of him before this and I was so amazed at his musical range from an almost olde-English-like ballad, “The King of California”, to a blasting song about meeting Big Joe Turner, the legendary influence on rock n’ roll. His songs carried me away thinking about the future of blues music, looking around at the audience, everyone over 45 it seemed, thinking of the musicians this guy has met over the years, an obvious connection to Townes Van Zandt (but he didn’t mention him), his California roots. Will this under-the-radar bar blues subculture disappear in a few years?

Listening to this felt like an authentic vein of gold between the vast layers of popular music…a space without a label in Barnes and Noble, if that makes sense. Road music maybe?

He charmed the audience. His band was on fire and so tight. And I watched in amazement as some fans mouthed the words to his songs…I was happily clueless.

What’s even cooler is this concert was a gift from a friend, who knows that I’m wide-eyed and eager to listen to new things, even this older dude, who at 54 trails me by two years, yet with a wisdom and breadth of musical experience demonstrated that he’s a sage, indeed…some wonderful gifts like this defy placing a bow upon it, and you just can’t wrap them but they are as precious as diamonds, any day.