I was kind of surprised to see an announcement from the Bull Run that "loud folk" Dave Alvin would be touring with transcendental Texan Jimmie Dale Gilmore in a few months, but that didn't stop me from rushing to the phone to get tickets. Both of them are at the top of the heap, and we'd seen a couple of other odd pairings that came off great (like Bromberg and Campbell right there in the Bull Run). We got our customary center-left table, and then the show sold out fast.
Got to the Bull Run after pickup in West Concord on a Friday night (11/3) and the place was already pretty full by the time we got there. Got some good beers and good food quick from a very efficient waitress. Took some last bathroom breaks (Alvin was down there and was mobbed, hard to go to the bathroom that way), and then settled down for a good show.
Dave was right in front of us and Jimmie Dale on the right, both sitting on their low metal chairs. The show was a lot of fun and I have to say that the pairing worked, though it seemed uneven at times. I was thinking they were going to do a lot of traditional songs that they both knew equally, but they concentrated on an Alvin song, then a Gilmore song, and so on back and forth. They did ask for requests early in the show, but they basically wanted us to request what they had planned to play.
Jimmie Dale made a few mistakes when trying to keep up with Dave, which I'm sure can be pretty difficult. When he took the lead he was excellent, doing Dallas, Just a Wave (which he said was written by Butch Hancock but is HIS song), and one of the moments of the night was him captivating the whole sold out and raucous Sawtelle Room with Another Colorado. He's magic at his best.
At one point Jimmie Dale was going on about river songs, and how they were in the same vein as train songs, and how there might be outer space songs some day (I think he was losing me). And then he stopped and said, "But there aren't any bicycle songs!?!" Dave immediately started playing, "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two." Or he played part of it at least.
And it was as wonderful as you might expect, seeing Dave Alvin sitting 10 feet in front of me playing acoustic. Some yahoos shouted for Harlan County Line early on, but he pointed out to them that he needed an electric to play that. I kind of wished he had his electric and turned it up as loud as he had last time I'd seen him at the Bull Run (that was a topic of conversation at the table, we all agreed that was the loudest we'd ever heard the place get), but he was perfect on acoustic of course and this was great!
For me, the moment of the night was him doing Evening Blues from his Blackjack David record. I never thought I'd see him play this song and it's a gem. Several of us requested Blue Wing, but he shook his head and said they'd played that the night before.
BUT, never mind that. He'd opened with Long White Cadillac, soon chimed in with King Of California (with Jimmie Dale frailing the mandolin part on his guitar), done an amazing acoustic Fourth of July in the middle of the set, and his song in the encore was an amazing, delicate and ethereal version of Marie Marie, three of the best songs in the world right there. Superb!
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