Dave Alvin Live

One of the highlights of the recent Dave Alvin show at the Visulite here in Charlotte was the extended version of the title track of his 2004 album Ashgrove. The song is a tribute top a club he and his brother Phil frequented when they were teens. At this club they saw several of the old legendary bluesmen and heard the music that inspired them to create The Blasters, a band that many credit as helping create the Americana sound.

The song below is the version of the song Ashgrove from his appearance in Austin, TX on July 16th, 2011. I like how he has changed the song and has used it as a way to address the crowd and expand on what he says on the album version. He is essentially saying the same thing but here he really expands on what he is saying. The intensity approaches Springsteen's and it exemplifies one of my favorite things about Dave, his ability to express deep emotion without being over sentimental. Initially I was going to say that he means it when he plays this song but all artists mean what they say but only a few are able to say it as well as Dave.

Davealvin 2011-07-16 Ashgrove by zzazazz