Like me, Dave Alvin has always lived in California. The housing tract across the street from my house used to be filled with orange groves, although the scent of orange blossoms is long gone. So when Alvin sings about bulldozing the orange groves and dry rivers, well, it strikes a chord. Now Alvin has a new album, West of West: Songs from California Songwriters—Volume 1, that is supposed to be autobiographical (even though he only wrote one half of one of the 13 songs). Don't you find that when Alvin sings his song, the California song, he's singing your song too?
“I’m a fourth generation Californian,” Dave declares. “I grew up here and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, but it’s not blemish free. It took me a while to understand that Brian Wilson’s songs were about sun and fun with a hint of melancholy, and that hint is what makes that Beach Boys stuff so amazing. Woody Guthrie wrote about looking for the promised land but he also wrote about the migrant camps. When people outside the state think of California , they don’t think of migrant camps and hard times, but that’s what Haggard is singing about in many of his California songs. The best California songs come from the intersection where hopes and reality collide."
Dave Alvin is playing at McCabe's in Santa Monica, CA in January.
Upcoming Shows:
Fri. & Sat. January 18-19 @ McCabe’s
3101 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405