Billy's News: Nov 1999

LATEST NEWS - The Knitters played two benefit shows in San Francisco
(see the story this issue), and will now do an extensive West Coast tour
in December.

-- Acoustic Guitar magazine will release a sampler CD with their magazine,
with Dave's TALL TREES on it. -- Tampa, FL radio station WMNF is putting
a live CD, culled from shows in Florida. Dave and the Guilty Men's live
version of AMERICAN MUSIC is included. -- The 8/15 L.A.Times reported that
singer Peter Case is overseeing a tribute album to bluesman Mississippi
John Hurt, due early next year. Dave Alvin, Chris Smither, Van Dyke Parks,
Richard Thompson, and John Sebastian are confirmed participants. - The
Blasters are rumored to be working on a tour of  Italy and Scandinavia
in March of 2000.

-- The Mike Eldred Trio (with Blasters Bazz and Angel) have been selling
an advance copy of their soon to be released CD at their shows. (See ad
in this issue for mail-order info.) They will be holding a regular gig at
the Blue Cafe in Long Beach, CA, every Tuesday night until Christmas. -
Phil Alvin has been negotiating with HighTone records to get some sessions
scheduled for the recording of the Blasters upcoming album. Phil is
focusing a lot of his energies on the study of digital storage and
transmission of music (sound) and video data via the Internet. DVD's
are his medium of choice right now.  Phil adds,  "I am now a highly
skilled graphics programmer. I've got people who want to sell my images
in art shows."

Press - In early September an L.A. Times reporter traveled on tour with
Dave and the Guilty Men writing for an L.A. Times magazine cover story
possibly titled;  "On the Road with Dave Alvin." It may be out in December
or January. -- Keith Wyatt recently wrote profiles on Albert King and
John Lee Hooker for Guitar World magazine. Look for future profiles on
Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Keith is also writing for an upcoming
web site called truefire.com which will provide music lessons via the
Internet in print and on audio. --Hyperion press will release a book
called Listen To This: Leading Musicians Recommend Their Favorite Artists
and Recordings. Dave has a six page chapter outlining his favorites. --

EX-Blasters -- Bill Bateman's new band features a blues vocalist he met
while living in Anchorage, Alaska, named Jake Matson. Bill describes the
singer as, "Sounding like Bukka White or Son House; real delta blues!"
Matson has an album out on Storyville records in Sweden, and is working
on its release in the states. Their band played in L.A. for a week
in October. They are on their way to relocating to Matson's home in
Savannah, GA. Phil Alvin had kind words to say about childhood buddy,
Bill, when he came to L.A. recently. "We had a great jam session; he's
really playing good, and the guy he has with him is a good kid. I had
a really good time. Johnny (Bazz), Bill, and I played with Matt Samia
(a local friend and guitar player) at the Blue Cafe It was cool. Bill
was playing excellent. He really looked like Bateman again.  I dragged
their asses over my house and we played records all night long. It was
a really good time." - James Intveld is working on two new albums; one
by his swing band, The Swing Sinners and another in the vein of his last
solo record for Innerworks. He also has an acting part as a drummer in
an upcoming movie about the Beach Boys.

Dave Alvin side projects: --The Dave produced albums by Katy
Moffatt and the Derailers have been released. Buck Owens, after many
scheduling problems, was able to sing on an extra song recorded by the
Buck-influenced Derailers for their album Full Western Dress. Dave was
out on tour and couldn't be at the studio for that last session. --
The Little Milton album called Welcome To Little Milton (Malacco)
is out now with two songs featuring Dave. Little Milton related a fun
story about Dave, "When we were in the studio in Mussell Shoals, Dave
and I started singin' and Dave sang so low. So I said 'Dave you have
to bring it up a notch (laughs).' I never met Dave, so I didn't know
(laughs). Dave said, 'This is the way I sing.' It came out great and we
had a lot of fun. He's a real nice guy. Tell him I said, 'Hello' and,
'Thanks again for playing.'" 

Dave Alvin Favorite Gigs of 1999 -Dave; The Roxy (Sept 11) in L.A. "It
was great. An incredible show. The band was in top form and we had so
much fun." Chris Gaffney was in Phoenix with his Mom and as Dave says
in an amazing feat of determination, "Chris drove all the way from
Phoenix. Leaving at 6 PM, he drove all night right to the Roxy, walked
right on stage in time for the encore. That was perfect! He was taking
care of his Mom, but he didn't want to miss that one"-- Dave's views of
opening for Richard Thompson: "It was wonderful. We got to talking about
various guitar things. He such a fabulous guitar player that every night
was a lesson. He has always been an inspiration to me. He and his crew
were so nice to me." In Madison, WI, a video crew was filming a home
video documentary on Thompson. They filmed Dave but it isn't known if
that footage will be released. 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Johnny Bazz and Chris Gaffney and their
families. Both lost their mothers recently.  Chris Gaffney's new HighTone
album recording sessions have been delayed indefinitely due to his Mothers
passing. Dave Alvin was scheduled to produce.  Meanwhile, Foothill records
will release Chris's long out of print Road To Indio album on CD. The two
CD package will include a live Gaffney concert from earlier this year. -
Rick Shea will be releasing his second full-length CD in mid November
titled Shakey Ground. The CD will include all of Rick's 1991 (and out
of print) album Outside of Nashville,along with five recently recorded
tracks. The CD is a limited release and is available by mail-order by
sending $16 post paid to Rick Shea, PO Box 294, Covina, CA 91723 -- In
August, Rick Shea played pedal steel at a recording session with REM
for a movie about  Andy Kaufman called Man On The Moon. He played on
two instrumentals, one of which may be the radio single from the movie.

Dave Alvin report: "Countdown to the Black Jack David Follow-up Album"
If everything goes according to plan, I'll get in the studio in April or May
of next year, and have the record out in September. I have a bunch of music,
so I have to start writing the lyrics. Greg Leisz will produce it, and I want
to have more of the band (Guilty Men) feel to it. The ideas I have so far are
pretty acoustic, but I do want to have some rock n roll songs on it. But at
this point, it's all kind of conjecture. Ed- each issue we will hear from
Dave on the progress of this eagerly anticipated album.