Stagecoach 2012: Backstage with Dave Alvin

On his way into the Stagecoach grounds in Indio, where he was set to play Saturday afternoon, Dave Alvin recalled the last time he played the country/roots-focused event, in 2009 with the Knitters, L.A.'s rootsy offshoot of X and the Blasters.

"It was really hot," Alvin recalled. "We were on after the Poco reunion, which was so emotional. Seeing Richie Furay and Rusty Young, and they sang [Buffalo Springfield's] 'Kind Woman.'"

"And I thought, 'We have to follow that?'"

PHOTOS: The scene at Stagecoach 2012

Poco's Furay wrote "Kind Woman" during his Buffalo Springfield tenure. Of Poco's performance in 2009, The Times wrote that the act's multi-part harmonies were delivered "precisely yet lovingly," which gave "Poco's performance a sweetly golden tone.'"

Alvin, just back from a two-week tour of England. was pulled aside prior to his afternoon set with the latest incarnation of his 'Guilty' band. Now known as 'the Guilty Ones,' following earlier editions the Guilty Men and the Guilty Women.

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-- Randy Lewis

Image: Jenna Bonker, 11, rides high on her brother's shoulders, Ryan Bonker, 14, of Costa Mesa as they get a close-up view of Sara Evans performing on the first day of the three-day Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

An appreciation: Dave Alvin remembers Johnny Otis

Guitarist, songwriter and singer Dave Alvin, a founding member with his brother Phil of Los Angeles roots-rock group the Blasters and subsequently a member of punk band X and critically lauded solo artist, remembers Johnny Otis. The bandleader, songwriter, producer, talent scout, drummer and disc jockey died Tuesday at age 90:

Johnny Otis was HUGE in my brother's and my musical education and early musical experience.

I was about 14 when we started following Johnny Otis and his band around Southern Cal like Deadheads and Parrotheads would do years later for the Dead and [Jimmy] Buffett.

He had a stunning band (I can still name them all with the exception of the drummer, who I do recall was from the band Kaleidoscope) and his shows were a consistent, thrilling tribute to West Coast blues, R&B and soul.

Johnny was always nice and friendly to us and that meant the world to us. He was even interested in managing one of my brother’s teenage blues bands way back when. Twenty years later, I saw him perform in Long Beach and he walked right up to me and started talking to me as if no time had passed at all.

He was a huge force in R&B on the West Coast and in the Southwest, from Central Avenue in L.A. to Houston and Memphis. In his way, Johnny was as important as [Sun Records founder] Sam Phillips or [Chess Records co-founder] Leonard Chess in discovering new talent, both as a bandleader but also as a record producer -- everyone from Little Esther to Johnny Ace to Little Richard to Big Mama Thornton and so many more.

Not only was his music a gigantic influence on me, his political and sociological views always forced me to think outside the box. While I didn’t agree with everything he said, I agreed with a lot of it.

Johnny Otis made me think while I was rocking. Not many artists can do that.

Damn. This is really sad.

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Johnny Otis in 1985. Credit: Los Angeles Times file photo.

Dave Alvin receives pardon from Davis mayor, Blasters no longer banned from playing there

Dave Alvin has been a member of two seminal bands, the Blasters and X, penned a rock anthem, "4th  of July," traveled the world as an ambassador for the folk-blues-country amalgam known as roots music, and, over nearly three decades, crafted one of the great California songbooks.

But until early Wednesday, he suffered a more dubious distinction: banned in Davis.

In 1982, Alvin and the Blasters were performing at a small venue in the college town near the California capital when, out in the sardine-packed crowd, push literally came to shove. Next thing, a riot: police, helicopters and, in the days that followed, a civic ban on all things Blaster. (Which apparently extended to its members, emeritus).

"We were innocent," Alvin protested, recalling that fated night. "We were just doing our job."

Late Tuesday, Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza -- a serious Alvin afficionado -- set out to rectify the long-ago injustice. Shortly before midnight, just outside Berkeley, he boarded a Portland, Ore.-bound train and presented Alvin a formal proclamation -- calligraphy, gold seal, much "whereas" -- absolving him of any wrongdoing and welcoming (no, practically begging) him to play again in Davis.

Twenty or so beery passengers, joining Alvin on his Kings of California Roots on the Rails tour, attended the ceremony and offered all the solemnity they could muster. (A few even offered to riot, for old-time sake.)

Krovoza rode along as far as Davis, and used the 40 minutes to coax Alvin into a discussion of several of the mayor's favorite songs. ("Abilene" was about a girl, it turns out, not the Texas city.)

A bemused Alvin declined the chance to give a speech, though he thanked the mayor several times and took time to thumb through the lengthy resolution. Despite the late hour, he whipped out his cellphone and rang his brother and Blasters cofounder, Phil, suggesting he'd never guess what just happened.

"He says, 'Oh, wow, that's great,' " a grinning Alvin related to Krovoza, who smiled in turn. "Scot free!"

 -- Mark Z. Barabak, aboard the Coast Starlight

Credit: Issa Sharp/Yep Roc records

Dave Alvin guests on FX's 'Justified' on Feb. 23, debuts new song

 
The FX channel’s crime-drama series “Justified,” which just launched its second season and is airing Wednesday nights, is set in the coal-mining country of southeastern Kentucky. That gives it something of a “Coal Miner’s Godfather” vibe with its storyline of a deputy U.S. marshal who patrols the back roads of Appalachia on the lookout for dope dealers, thieves and murderers.

The rural setting makes it an ideal forum for an Americana-heavy soundtrack, but even roots-music fans might shake their heads in disbelief during the Feb. 23 episode “Harlan County Line,” when none other than singer-songwriter Dave Alvin makes a guest appearance.

Not only does Alvin appear on-camera -- as a musician in an out-of-the-way roadhouse where star Timothy Olyphant, as Dep. Raylan Givens, is having a clandestine meeting -- but he also sings an original song he wrote for the episode.

When Givens is joined at the bar by a guest who asks what he’s doing, he responds, “I’m waiting for Dave Alvin to go on.” Sure enough, there’s Alvin tuning up and then launching into the song “Harlan County Line,” backed by guitarist Rick Shea and other members of his real-life band. But even miracles have to end sometime, and after a few seconds of the song, the action shifts away from the bar and the episode moves on.

It turns out that the show’s creators are longtime Alvin fans themselves, and decided during the second season to write him into the show. We’re told at Pop & Hiss that his song will surface in its entirety on a forthcoming “Justified” soundtrack album. It’s also scheduled to be on a new Alvin solo album that's due in June.

-- Randy Lewis  

Photo of Dave Alvin. Credit: Beth Herzhaft.