Artist:     Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore

Album:     Downey to Lubbock

Label:     Yep Roc Records

Release Date:     5.28.2018

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I was familiar with Dave Alvin from his days with brother Phil and The Blasters, less so with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Both are all about American roots music: Alvin is mostly blues and rockabilly, Gilmore more country. Rather than blending their respective styles, their first recording together, Downey to Lubbock, alternates between them, preserving the integrity of their individual voices with accents from overlapping genres.

Downey and Lubbock refer to their birthplaces: Alvin is from Downey, California, and Gilmore from Buddy Holly’s Lubbock, Texas. Their hometowns are literally a thousand miles apart, but the pair’s fate managed to intersect at The Ash Grove, an early folk and blues club in Los Angeles. Although about a decade apart in age, both Gilmore, the elder, and Alvin cite seeing blues legends such as Son House and Lightning Hopkins at the foot of the Ash Grove stage as formative to their musical developments. After touring together on and off since the ‘90s, Alvin and Gilmore decided to work together in the studio, writing original songs and adding some of their favorite standards.

The title track kicks things off with the hard-rocking sound Blasters fans will instantly recognize. Alvin and Gilmore trade vocals, the latter’s in a mellower register than Alvin’s roadhouse blues. Gilmore has been performing since the ‘70s and has his own distinctive voice, but first-time listeners could be forgiven for thinking they’re hearing Willie Nelson. The comparison is intended entirely as praise rather than implying Gilmore is just another Willie wannabe.  The following track, “Silverlake,” is an even better example, a country ballad solidly in Gilmore’s roundhouse.

There are some notable covers, including “Stealin,’” a familiar country blues perennial, and The Youngbloods’ “Get Together.” Among this reviewer’s favorite tunes are “July, You’re A woman,” with Nick Forster on mandolin and some of Alvin and Gilmore’s sweetest harmonies, and “The Gardens,” with Alvin out front on vocals supported by Tejano-style accordion. Happily,

Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore will be touring extensively in June and July.

—Lou Montesano