By Robert J. McLennan
(photo above by Robert J. McLennan)

I needed a couple days to let this show percolate in my brain and my soul.  Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and The Guilty Ones appeared at the new, expanded Sportsmen’s Tavern last Friday night and it was an epic performance!  It was a sold-out show with over 260 in attendance.  

The legendary tavern, all decorated for Halloween, looked and, as usual, sounded great.  Carolyn Wonderland and Shelly King were a wonderful surprise, opening the show with a 45-minute set of blues and gospel. 

And then right at 9 p.m., Alvin, Gilmore and The Guilty Ones came out and they opened with “We’re Still Here,” the closing song off their new album, “Texicali,” referencing Dave’s and Jimmie Dale’s origins of California and Texas, as well as the fact that these two road warriors are still out hitting the road with their music decades after they first got started. 

They did quite a bit from the new album but it was not disappointing, as it sometimes is when an artist focuses on new material.  You know what I mean; you want to hear what you want to hear.  However, the new songs are so good and they were performed with such exuberance that the party got started early and never slowed.   

The first Dave Alvin song, pre-Jimmie Dale Gilmore, was the classic “Johnny Ace is Dead” from the Eleven Eleven album.  That was followed soon after by “Long White Cadillac” from the Blasters days; “Dry River” and the majestic “Fourth of July,” delivered like I always think of it: as a song, along with Bruce Springsteen’s “Promised Land, that could be our national anthem. 

Gilmore’s classics, “Downtown” and “Dallas,” were placed beautifully in the set, near the beginning and near the end respectively. 

After nearly two hours, the band returned for the encore, with Wonderland and King, starting with the Youngbloods’ “Get Together,” as recorded on Alvin’s and Gilmore’s first album together.  “Marie Marie” from the Blasters was next, and Alvin told the story about how it has become such a zydeco hit that some of the Louisiana musicians who do the song can’t believe it was Dave Alvin who actually wrote it.  The evening’s closer was “Downey to Lubbock,” the title track of the duo’s first album. 

As we’ve gotten used to, but should never take for granted, the sound at the Sportsmen’s Tavern was superior throughout the night and Alvin and Gilmore sounded terrific; the whole band appeared to be having an excellent time in its return to Buffalo.  

Alvin and Gilmore may have put on a lot of miles over the years but they came back to the Sportsmen’s Tavern vibrant and healthy. Their voices were right on and Alvin’s searing rock ‘n blues guitar was evident throughout the show.  The Guilty Ones were rock solid and as good as ever. In fact this was the best Alvin/Gilmore/Guilty One show I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a few of them. The sold-out Sportsmen’s Tavern crowd seconded the emotion; they loved Dave Alvin & Crew from the moment they went onstage. 

All in all, for one of the first sold-out shows in the new and improved Sportsmen’s Tavern, it was a glorious night of the very best of Americana music. 

Robert J. McLennan 

Additional notes from Hive editor Elmer Ploetz:

Bob McLennan (who some of you may know from his “Buffalo Bob Sez” columns) did a great job of wrapping up an epic Dave Alvin performance, but I had a few additional thoughts to share about a particular aspect of the show.

Alvin manages to avoid gender stereotypes as well as anyone in music with with the Guilty Ones, Carolyn Wonderland and Shelly King. What I mean by that is that in many bands the women are there to provide pretty, high harmonies, to strum an acoustic guitar and maybe to flash some winning smiles.

With the Guilty Ones, Alvin has a drummer (Lisa Pankratz) who asks no quarter, playing a key role in the sound and going about her business as seriously as anyone in the business. Toward the end of the show, her drum solo was titanic.

At the same time, Wonderland is an incredible electric guitar player, possibly as good as anyone on the stage – Alvin included. She can hit the high notes with her voice, but also caw like a Leadbelly or Janis Joplin. With King, she combines for some wonderfully raw gospel harmonies.

The great thing about it is that it all happens like there’s nothing special about it, that this is the way is SHOULD be. And that indeed is the way it should be, but so rarely is.