Dave & Phil Alvin Set to
Release Lost Time CD

In This Issue:  Dave Alvin preview of Lost Time, Keith Wyatt's Blasters update, and Los Lobos' Dream In Blue book review.

Latest News:  -- On September 18, 2015 Yep Roc Records releases the second Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin album titled Lost Time. -- Desperate Girl the new CD by Christy McWilson, features Dave Alvin. He plays guitar on CHIP ON MY SHOULDER. The album was recorded in 2004, but not released until 2015 and deals with her marital breakup.  In the album's liner notes, Christy, a member of the Guilty Women, writes: "The songs, written in the weeks leading up to and during the marriage's demise, were recorded in their full, red-hot splendor. At the time it was so painful, I shelved it and tried to forget about it. I recently rediscovered it and realized I had an amazing portrait of that heightened time in my life." Visit www.christymcwilson.com to buy the album. Dave Alvin plays guitar on It's Every Time, a collection of Everly Brothers songs recorded by Dead Rock West, the duo of Cindy Wasserman and Frank Drennen. Dave is featured on GONE GONE GONE, (YOU GOT) THE POWER OF LOVE and THE PRICE OF LOVE. --  Marissa Gomez and the Ghosts of Echo Park are nearing completion of their debut album, she reported in a Facebook post on June 23. Dave Alvin plays guitar on the CD. More than $10,000 was raised to fund the album through an Indiegogo campaign. -- Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound, a documentary film about the California singer, has been released on DVD. Dave Alvin, who has recorded Mize's WHO WILL BUY THE WINE, was interviewed for the movie. Visit BillyMizeMovie.com. -- Dave Alvin is planning a 'West of the West train trip' with musical guests for 2016. Dates and the itinerary for the trip have not been finalized. Visit rootsontherails.com for info and updates. -- John Bazz and Bill Bateman of the Blasters appear as members of the Doghouse Lords in Cry Now, a new feature film. Visit Vincentandluzy.com to see a promotional trailer for the film. The Doghouse Lords released DON'T DRIVE ME AWAY as a single in June. For details, visit Doghouselords.com/site  -- American roots band Cisco & Dewey are putting the finishing touches on their second release due out in January 2016 with Dave Alvin playing lead guitar on 7 songs.  -- The HBO show Girls used the Blasters song MARIE MARIE in an episode this past season. -- Dave Alvin: "I've been touring in vans for over 30 years, and since the very first tour I've been making personal van tapes to keep the musicians entertained on the endless drives. These cassette tapes were my way of sharing the music I love and introducing the music to my various band members in hopes of inspiring them in the same way these old songs have inspired me my entire life. Thanks to Spotify, I can now introduce these songs to you as well. As we continue traveling down the road, I'll be adding more songs to this list. So hop in the van with us and come along for the ride." Follow Dave Alvin's Van Tapes on Spotify.  -- AM

A Blasters Update from Keith Wyatt

     "It has been a quiet summer in Blaster land. Plans for both a European jaunt and a Southeast US tour with our good buddies 'X' were brewing early in the year, but the European itinerary ultimately failed to materialize and as readers may know, 'X' guitarist Billy Zoom is currently undergoing treatment for a recurrence of cancer (his prognosis is good, but tour plans were put on hold). We completed a brief Midwest jaunt in June followed by the annual Roadshow Revival festival before joining 'X' in early July for Billy's last shows with the band until he's back in action.
     As a result, we found ourselves with the summer off for the first time in a number of years - not what we were planning, of course, but it offered a chance to experience summer in full Los Angeles color rather than through

the window of a van somewhere else in the world. Unfortunately, the relaxed atmosphere was upset in mid July by two pieces of bad news: former Blaster road manager Tommy Pacheco suddenly passed away, and soon after that our current road manager Jaime Casillas suffered a mild stroke.
     Fortunately, Jaime is on the mend and we're looking forward to seeing him again when our break ends at the end of August with a few SoCal shows before Phil and Dave take off for a Fall tour in support of their new album, and upon their return we'll launch a West coast tour in December that will take us to Seattle and back - tanned, rested, and ready…" -- Keith

     I have to be honest, we were very disappointed to not win a Grammy for Common Ground last year. All props to the great Johnny Winter, but as soon as we didn't win, I formulated an idea: "Well, damn it. Let's make another album right away." That was extra impetus. But I was already thinking that even though Phil's health has gotten much better, you never know how long you've got in this life. It's what I wrote in the liner notes to the new album. So, we got off the road and made a record right away.
     I started with the idea that Phil is singing better than ever, so let's play to his strengths and do an album of what we're good at. After doing the Big Bill Broonzy tribute album, everyone asked who we would tribute next. Big Joe Turner was an obvious choice, because we've stated so many times about how much of an influence he was on us. But I didn't wanna do the same thing again. So instead, we thought of songs we always wanted to do.
    We did four Big Joe Turner songs, including CHERRY RED, which I really like. The song MISTER KICKS opens the record and is a song we've loved since we were kids. With all the stuff that Phil has gone through, his voice has only gotten better. His harmonica playing has been great. He doesn't really want to play harmonica as much, but I've been forcing him because it's been so good.
    The album has a very loose sound. It's so much easier when you don't have to write the damn songs (laughs). There are things on this record that sound to me like the Blasters, things that don't . . . it's just all over the place. Some of it has the best vocals Phil has ever done, in my opinion. I'm real happy we've documented that.
     Basically we have all the musicians who were on
Common Ground back again.  Two songs have Gene Taylor, Bob Glaub and Don Heffington on them. Those were recorded back in February, 2015, when Gene was in town. Then in April, we went in the studio

Los Lobos: Dream In Blue
  A book by Chris Morris        reviewed by Tom Wilk