On TexiCali, the follow up to their equally brilliant Downey to Lubbock (from 2018), Americana music icons Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore offer up another appetizing and slow burning mix of blues, folk, country, and rock and roll sure to please fans of both of these great musical artists. To be sure, there is plenty for all Americana fans to devour on this magnificent record.
Backed by Alvin’s back up band The Guilty Ones, over the course of the eleven songs of this collection (six of them originals), Californian Alvin and Texan Gilmore play and sing brilliantly with and off of each other again as they combine their vast and distinctive talents and grasp of American roots music in a way that is both dazzling and quietly spectacular.
If ever two music men were meant to collaborate and play together, it is these two American originals who have, in their own respective ways, carved out a place for their songs and creations to be heard without a heap of mainstream success. The fact that these two are still going strong decades after they started their respective careers (the 80s for Alvin and the 70s for Gilmore) is a testament to both their perseverance and prodigious creative talents. That they are able to mesh together so seamlessly for now their second album, and for their energetic and charismatic live shows is a gift to music fans everywhere.
Highlights of this fantastic album include the emotionally drenched “Trying To Be Free,” the inspiring and smoldering “Blind Owl” (a tribute to Canned Heat’s Alan “Blind Owl Wilson”), the heart wrenching and stirring “Death Of The Last Stripper,” the blues and rockabilly-infused send up “Why I’m Walking,” the mesmerizing and picturesque “Down the 285,” and the gloriously defiant and rollicking “We’re Still Here” (a co-write by Gilmore and Alvin).
While some collaborative projects and music pairings leave one unsatisfied as a fan, Alvin and Gilmore’s musical union is a joy to sonically behold and one you hope lasts for a long time.
TexiCali by Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore was produced by Alvin and is now available on Dave Alvin’s website and on Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s website .
Enjoy our interview here: Interview: Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s “TexiCali” Thrives On Possibility
