West of the West
West of the West
Product Description
WEST OF THE WEST is Dave Alvin's tribute to the songs and songwriters of California. It's the fourth-generation Californian's latest excursion into the sounds and history of his home state, continuing the high standard he set King of California and Blackjack David.
Amazon.com
One of the finest composers of rootsy Americana since his years with the Blasters, Dave Alvin here celebrates the quintessential songs (and songwriters) of his native California. Some of his choices--Merle Haggard, John Fogerty, and Alvin's occasional collaborator Tom Russell--are artists who have obviously influenced his own writing, but he extends the selection to include some surprise choices, such as Jackson Browne, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. As revelatory as the songs he selects is what Alvin does with them, turning Browne's "Redneck Friend" into a shuffle worthy of Big Joe Turner and giving an equally bluesy twist to Fogerty's "Don't Look Now," while removing the blues that had characterized Los Lobos' original version of "Down on the Riverbed" in favor of a banjo-driven folk arrangement. The opening rendition of John Stewart's "California Bloodlines" establishes the album's theme; the closing "Surfer Girl" is a stunner, Alvin's most tender vocal to date, giving the Beach Boys ballad a warmth that borders on reverence. Whatever Alvin may lack in vocal range, there's no doubting his interpretive range. --Don McLeese
Review
"..with a unique ability to peer into both past and present...his deep-throated croon provides a rustic, whisky-soaked imprint that imparts a clear sense of passion and purpose." -- Lee Zimmerman, Amplifier
"Closing with a sweetly delicate rendition of the first song Wilson ever wrote, `Surfer Girl,' Alvin not only works in a nod to the California coastline and the surf music it inspired, he uses it to put a wistful, burnished glow on his loving yet clear-eyed paean to the Golden State." -- Randy Lewis, LA Times
The ex-Blaster isn't so much a mere mainstay of the LA root-rock scene as its principal justification." Ron Garmon, Los Angeles City Beat -- Ron Garmon, Los Angeles City Beat
The songs on West of the West have already proven they can stand up on their own; thanks to Alvin, they'll carry on much longer." -- Kurt Wolff, No Depression