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Each track brings together Dave’s favourite musicians with whom to create music

(Seems that Dave and I have the same taste in drummers, as we have both done some

playing and recording with Steve Mugalian)! The album is a guitar slinger’s tribute to
the instrument, both through Dave’s interpretations and through the contributions of
his many prestigious guest players. In addition, Dave’s rich baritone vocals and the

album’s production imbue a warmth and
intimacy that convinces the listener Dave is

right there in the room, singing just to you.
What’s not to love?!

I asked Dave Alvin to tell us about his life,
career and his latest release Songs From An Old

Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings. This is
what he told me ……

LL: Could you paint us a picture of growing
up in your family in Downey, CA, in the 60’s?

DA: My family were sort of oddballs in
Downey. My father was a union organizer for

the Steelworkers Union but, in those distant
days, Downey was a very, very conservative area so my family kind of stuck out

politically. But, unlike today, everyone got along more or less despite these
differences.

My brother Phil and I also were kind of oddballs because we were seriously
interested in older music like blues, jazz, rockabilly, etc., that weren't the normal Top

40 or FM Rock tastes of the day. Through in the late 50s to the early 70s, growing up
on the southeast side of Los Angeles County was sort of a musical cornucopia. That is
if you wanted it to be. Most folks and kids had little idea how much music there was

around them, especially roots music. Phil and I (along with the other guys who would

later become The Blasters) started sneaking into and hanging out at local bars. One
example was back then we could see and hear the great blues/boogie-woogie pianist
Lloyd Glenn playing at a lounge in a restaurant called Marmac's two blocks from our

house. Lloyd had played on the great 40s/50s recordings of T-Bone Walker and
Lowell Fulson, plus he produced the early records by Ray Charles as well as having

his own hits on the Swingtime label in the early 50s. He was an extremely patient
and kind man who taught our pianist, the late Gene Taylor, a lot about boogie-woogie

piano playing. Most Downey folks getting drunk in the lounge just took him and his
talents for granted but we knew who he was, how great and important he was so we

never did. He was a huge influence on us.