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67 f


he title track, Downey To Lub- bock, is built off autobiographi- cal lyrics with Jimmie Dale and Dave trading poetic self-por- traits, beginning with Alvin, the “blues blaster” with a “Stratocaster that can blow any road house down,” while Jimmie Dale, the self-described West Texas hippie country singer evokes the desola- tion of flat lands where “wind blows through my veins.”


T In all their travels, it turns out that


the two men’s crossroads was the Ash Grove, LA’s famed club, where Alvin recalled shaking the Texas bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins’ hand.


“I was the perfect age when rock and roll came along, I loved it, but never lost my love of country music either,” Gilmore recalled. “I was brought up with Jimmy Reed, Fats [Domino] Little Richard, Lloyd Price and all that New Orleans stuff. My dad played electric lead guitar with a band at the local VFW hall. I never learned to play that style myself. I was always interested in songs… the lyrics and vocal parts. I started playing harmonica and got into folk music, and a friend turned me on to Dave Van Ronk and Leadbelly. It’s funny I never got to know Lightnin’ [Hopkins] in Texas. I first saw him in California when he was playing at a little folk club in LA called the Ash Grove.”


It turned out that “Dave and his broth- er Phil had been hanging out at the Ash Grove in the same period that had been so important to me. And that became the basis of our performances together. We had a lot in common and share a curiosity for music and literature. We’ve been good friends a long time. Somebody suggested we should do shows together. We had a


joint history and both knew a lot of the same stuff. I think we’ve both been type- cast in the past, but we have a real wide- ranging taste in music that goes beyond what most people expect” [hinting that their version of Get Together probably should not be such a surprise].


It’s easy to be cynical about the inclu-


sion of Dino Valenti’s classic San Francisco peace and love anthem Get Together on the album. Originally made famous by the Youngbloods at the height of the Civil Rights/Vietnam War protests, the song, as Alvin points out, is both “Timeless and timely.” Jimmie Dale’s world-weary yearn- ing and Dave’s modal leads breathe new life into an old warhorse that has other- wise been consigned to the dustbins of his- tory. “I’m a fan of Jesse Colin Young but Jimmie is 100% sincere,” Alvin said. “That’s what makes the song work! If I had sung it, it would have been, well…” Dave let a husky chuckle finish that thought.


With Billy The Kid & Geronimo, Alvin composed a great piece of “what-if” American mythology that is melodically reminiscent of the old sea-faring ballad Lord Franklin. Dave immediately pointed to Martin Carthy’s influence, claiming the famous guitarist/folksinger is “amazing.” “Jimmie Dale and my voices are so differ- ent from each other,” he said. “He sang Geronimo’s part, and I sang the Kid’s.”


“Our voices are so different. They’re


different but they don’t conflict,” Jimmie Dale concurred. “The contrast becomes the tapestry. This wasn’t planned. It all just came together organically. It really became obvious in a short time that we shared a good musical communication.”


Billy The Kid & Geronimo, a debate between the two legendary figures, takes place in an eternal bar where the walls of time no longer separate the past from the present and the future. The Kid tries to con- vince the great Apache medicine man that they are essentially both the same…. But Geronimo isn’t having any of it. Whatever trespasses he might have made in life were committed while trying to save his people, while the Kid was strictly out for himself.


But did these legendary figures ever cross paths? Upon hearing the song, I head- ed straight for Wikipedia to see what I could find. While historically inaccurate the song is a poetic portrait, much like the album’s cover by musician/artist Jon Lang- ford of the Mekons, which portrays Gilmore and Alvin shoulder to shoulder. Jimmie Dale, who is part Native American, some- what resembles the Lakota Sitting Bull more than the square-jawed Apache war- rior, while Dave takes on the air the cocky outlaw. “But I’m hardly a kid,” Dave joked.


The album bookends with a pair of road songs, closing with Brownie McGhee’s good-time shuffle Walk On. Dave and Jimmie play a game of vocal tag until Gilmore offers an exuberant folksy harmonica solo, followed by Dave’s fire- spitting guitar licks. The band kicks up a bit of dust, as the album does a slow, smouldering fade into the sunset, leaving you wondering if and when they might return again.


Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll catch them further up the road.


davealvin.net jimmiedalegilmore.com F


Photo: Daniel Jackson


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