This was only my second time to see Dave and Phil Alvin perform together. Two years ago, at the Claremont Folk Festival, they impressed me with a strong performance, yet last night at McCabe's they did even better. "Absolutely superb" were the first words that came out of my mouth at the end of the concert and I wasn't exaggerating. It is harder for me to assess Phil, who has mostly eluded me over the years, but I can state with confidence that Dave is one of those few top-tier musicians who just get better with age.
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| Dave & Phil Alvin at McCabe's |
The evening started with a seven-song set performed by Dave, with support from Chris Miller, his long-time collaborator and frequent member of the Guilty Men. Chris's electric guitar complemented Dave's acoustic playing to perfection. As musicians often do, Dave took a small detour from his hand-written set list, so instead of "King Of California" we heard "California Snow", a powerful song he wrote two decades ago with Tom Russell. The evening's first set ended with a great rendition of the self-penned "Abilene", whose extended instrumental coda featured some amazing interplay between Dave and Chris.
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| Dave Alvin's first set |
Phil Alvin joined Dave and Chris for the evening's second set and what a set that was! Drawing heavily from the repertoire of some of America's finest classic blues artists, the Alvin Brothers put on a stunning display of singing and guitar playing, with Chris Miller providing outstanding support. Phil may have looked a bit frail, but his vocals showed no signs of weakness whatsoever, not even when he did the yodelling part on Jimmie Rodgers' "Never No Mo' Blues".
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| Dave & Phil Alvin at McCabe's |
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| Dave Alvin at McCabe's |
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| Phil Alvin at McCabe's |
Everything we heard last night sounded great, yet a few songs still managed to stand out: Big Bill Broonzy's "All By Myself", Big Joe Turner's "Cherry Red Blues', Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey's "If You See My Savior" and the unattributed "World's In A Bad Condition". The show ending "What's Up With Your Brother", with its super-epic electric guitar playing delivered by Dave and Chris, will be hard to forget. The crowd brought them back for an encore, which consisted of "Johnny Ace Is Dead" and a rousing rendition of "Marie, Marie". We all went home happy.
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| Dave & Phil's set list |
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| Chris Miller at McCabe's |
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| The stage |
