Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore & the Guilty Ones
Leslie Campbell
A close-up of Dave Alvin (left) and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
Dave Alvin (left) and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
For a dream teaming of pioneer songwriters blending rock and American roots music, it would be hard to top Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Alvin was a co-founder of The Blasters, who added the energy of punk to earlier California styles (and The Knitters, with members of X); Gilmore co-founded The Flatlanders, who put some hippie spaciness into Texas honky tonk music. Both have since built wide-ranging solo careers exploring various styles, and together have recorded two albums including the new platter TexiCali. For their summer/fall tour the duo is accompanied by Alvin’s band The Guilty Ones. With Dead Rock West.
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media release: Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, “twin brothers from another mother” (LA Times), have unveiled “Southwest Chief,” the second advance track from their forthcoming album TexiCali (out June 21 via Yep Roc Records). An ode to Alvin’s time touring the country via ‘Roots on the Rails’ with fellow musicians, “Southwest Chief” awakens visions of prairie sunrises, the Mojave desert and the land of the Navajo. “We’d stack vintage cars on the back of an Amtrak train and play for the passengers,” says Alvin. “On the final tour in 2018, we were attached on the ride back from Chicago onto the legendary Southwest Chief.” Alvin began writing the track years ago with New England songwriter Bill Morrissey, and completed it after Morrissey’s passing: “Remembering my friend, Bill Morrissey / we were gonna write a song but that never came to be,” sings Alvin tenderly, backed by Gilmore on harmonica.
The duo also just shared an official music video for TexiCali’s triumphant lead single, “We’re Still Here.” The playful visual captures the record in a nutshell - a roadtrip across Alvin and Gilmore’s home states and the memories within. A celebration of Austin in particular, it highlights several of the city’s beloved establishments: Alvin blows a kiss to The Continental Club, they strut down South Congress, eat at Dan’s Hamburgers, hang with local rescue dogs from the non-profit ‘Jack Jack's Pack,’ while celebrating a project created at Zone Recording in Dripping Springs. “I had wild times in Houston at the Allen Park Inn,” sings Alvin (another dearly-missed Texas music landmark). “Well when they tore that joint down, you know I shed a tear.” Fittingly, with the “We’re Still Here” video, they’ve announced August tour dates in Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio.
Two of Americana’s most celebrated storytellers, Alvin and Gilmore elevate their "freewheeling, joyous" (Rolling Stone) partnership on TexiCali by incorporating more original collaborations than ever before. Together they reflect on their decades on the road, working with contemporaries like Terry Allen and Butch Hancock, and formative shows from blues legends like Brownie McGhee at Los Angeles’ Ash Grove. They build on a close-knit partnership that’s already brought them a Billboard #1 blues album, a spotlight on CNN and the friendship of a lifetime. They’ll bring TexiCali on the road beginning this July for the “We’re Still Here Tour” with Alvin’s longtime Austin-based band The Guilty Ones. For a full list of dates visit: https://www.jimmiedalegilmore.
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