What’s New with Mike Watterston

Dave Alvin: From An Old Guitar: Rare And Unreleased Recordings

We were first introduced to Dave Alvin when he and his brother, Phil, formed the roots rock band The Blasters in 1979. He’s had a long solo career after leaving the band in 1986. His first album, Romeo’s Escape, was released in 1987. Since then, he’s released 17 albums. This one is #18, and it doesn’t disappoint in the least. In my opinion, Dave is on par with Bruce Springsteen and John Prine as far as storytellers go.

On this latest delivery from Alvin, we get 16 tracks and 13 of them are covers. These are songs that he has previously recorded on his own albums, his contribution to tribute records and studio recordings. They are songs he loves to play with people he loves to play with: The Guilty Ones, The Guilty Men, The Guilty Women, Bill Frisell, Phil Alvin (and fellow Blasters, Bill Bateman, John Bazz & Gene Taylor), Jimmie Lee Gilmore, Cindy Cashdollar and Chris Gaffney are among them.

The selections were written by either himself or artists he admires, like Peter Case, Chris Smither, Willie Dixon, Marty Robbins, Bob Dylan and the late Bill Morrissey. Alvin played guitar on Morrissey’s last album and the two became close over the few years before Morrissey’s death in 2011. The music here ranges from acoustic blues, ballads, electric barroom blues, folk/rock and country/rock. Let’s go over a few of my standout tracks.

• “Link of Chain” by Chris Smither is a sweet, folky, JJ Cale-esque shuffle. Alvin almost talks his way through it.
• The Bob Dylan cover of “Highway 61 Revisited” is possibly the best Dylan cover I’ve ever heard. This alone is probably worth the price of admission.
• Earl Hooker’s “(Variations on Earl Hooker’s) Guitar Rumba” is an outstanding instrumental romp where we get solos on guitar, slide guitar, piano, harmonica and Chris Gaffney on accordion. An upbeat five and a half minute jam here.
• Chris Gaffney’s accordion shows up again on “Amanda.” This track was made famous by Waylon Jennings. This is a vocal duet with Alvin and Gaffney.
• Dave Alvin & co. rock out on Link Davis’s “Albuquerque,” a big favorite favorite of mine.
• A Willie Dixon composition, “Peace,” is another down and dirty blues track. Alvin is so good at this style. He also makes you appreciate Willie’s writing. I mean, after all, the guy wrote “Spoonful,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “I Ain’t Superstitious,” “Backdoor Man,” and “I Can’t Quit You Babe,” to name a few.
• Doug Sahm’s “Dynamite Woman” is another fantastic song. This one puts you in a smoky barroom on a hot and sweaty Saturday night with a cold beer and good friends. The band is tight and having a blast. This one will get you up. What a great night this song is.
• Bill Morrissey’s “Inside” is an absolutely beautiful recording. I love everything about this track. Alvin’s band, The Guilty Ones, back him up on it.
• We also get three of Dave Alvin’s original compositions. The previously released “Beautiful City ‘Cross The River” and “Signal Hill” are both gritty, bluesy rockers that initially came from 2011’s Eleven Eleven (the live Deluxe Edition). Plus the unreleased “Krazy & Ignatz,” a fun acoustic instrumental piece.
• “Perdido Street Blues,” another fine instrumental, pops up here. This one written by Lil Hardin Armstrong, featuring Alvin on a 1934 National Steel Doulian guitar and a wonderful ragtime piano solo from ex-Blaster, Gene Taylor.
• A wild duet of Bo Carter’s “Who’s Been Here” with Christy McWilson. A very Johnny & June type piece that will have you smiling throughout.

This is a strong record and I strongly recommend you enhance your library with it.

Side note: I went to see Dave & Phil Alvin at the City Winery in New York City when it was still on Varick Street in August of 2019. My friend wanted to go outside to smoke before the show started. As we were hanging in front of the venue…. from across the street, coming our way were the cowboy hat wearing Alvin boys! I said, “Hey Dave,” and extended my hand. As he shook it he said, “Hey guys, this is my brother Phil.” We spoke for a few minutes, they thanked us for coming out and then disappeared though the door. A very cool rock ‘n’ roll moment. I never thought of pulling my phone out. No pic, no autograph… maybe it was better that way. The show was incredible.

What’s Old and Good with Mike Watterston

Santana: Caravanserai

I’ve chosen this one because, in my opinion, this is the best record Santana has ever put out. Released in October of 1972, this is the last album that included Neal Schon and Gregg Rollie, who left to form Journey the following year. Carlos Santana and his incredibly talented band take us through 51:00 of glorious, joyous celebration of life and spirituality. That feeling is the thread that runs through this entire project. Drop the needle (or hit play), turn up the volume, turn on the black light, and get comfortable.

At this point in the early ’70s, Santana and drummer Mike Shrieve were listening to lots of jazz, Miles Davis, Weather Report, Pharaoh Sanders, John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc. The inspiration here is obvious.

The opening track gives us 35 seconds of crickets … you know this is going to be an experience.

Santana is as stellar as you’d expect from him on this, the bands fourth album on Columbia. The driving force throughout, whether it’s insanely pumping or softly tiptoeing, is Doug Raush on bass and the best percussionists on earth in John Lewis Mingo, Mongo Santamaria, Armando Perazo, Jose Chepito Areas and Mike Shrieve.

I’ve never wavered in my favorites since I purchased this in 1972: “Song of the Wind” is a back and forth showcase for Santana and Schon, “All The Love in the Universe,” and “Look Up To See The Sun” (on the latter Doug Raush’s bass line is smokin’ hot!). Raush had a unique style of thumb popping playing. Stanley Clarke and Sly Stone’s bassist, Larry Graham, both adopted his style. Sadly, before the decade was over Raush lost his life, at 28, to a heroin overdose.

The opening notes of Tom Coster’s electric piano on “La Fuente del Ritmo” will make you turn things up another notch or two.

Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Stone Flower” is covered here and, with Mike Shrieve’s lyrics added, it takes this Latin jazz classic to a whole new level.

Seven of the 10 tracks on this effort are instrumentals and the descriptions of them are simply beautiful, satisfying and wonderful … this is an outstanding Santana album. In December of ‘72, Caravanserai made it to #8 on Billboard’s Top 200. If you somehow missed it along the way, do yourself a favor and pick this one up!

What’s Local with Joe Hirsh

The Outcrops were on the cusp of some major dates and big things in 2020 when the pandemic hit hard. Scheduled as openers for major national acts, dates at festivals, and gigs at venues throughout the Northeast, The Outcrops were ready to score huge.

We recently interviewed Cassidy Rain, the band’s front woman and lead singer.  

What are your plans for moving forward this year?

We plan on doing a lot of writing this year and if things do open back up, we hope to be playing again regularly and bringing our music to new places. 

Are you currently working on a new CD or similar project?

We are working on several new original songs and hope to be ready to get into the studio at some point this year. We are starting to do more home recordings and honing in on our own musical tech skills.

Do you have a video of something new that you want to share with our readers?

We just released a new live video for our original song “Isolation Blues”:

It was audio recorded by Mike Reaves and filmed in his studio Mixed by The Outcrops and filmed and edited by Jayson Jannuzzi.

Do you have any cool events currently scheduled for this year? 

We are currently waiting on several shows to be rescheduled from last year. We look forward to hopefully rescheduling a date at Musikfest and at the Anglesea Blues Fest in August and in general getting back on the road. Meantime, we are currently scheduled to open for Three Dog Night on March 9th at the Newton Theater and open for the Outlaws on April 25th at the Lamp Theater. However, we strongly suggest staying up to date with our show schedule in case anything gets postponed. 

What is the best way get updated on band doings?

You can check out our schedule on Facebook (Facebook.com/theoutcrops) or our website (theoutcrops.com)!