Phil and Dave Alvin and the Guilty Ones at Southgate House Revival July 23, 2014

          On July 23, 2014, I attended a show at Southgate House Revival in Newport, Kentucky. Phil and Dave Alvin of the Blasters performed with three others ("the Guilty Ones"). They are playing in support of their recent release called 'Common Ground: the Songs of Big Bill Broonsy".
Venue: I have only been here once before, but I really enjoy this venue. It is a reconfigured church with good sight lines, an interesting vibe, and good acoustics.
     The gentleman manning the merch table was great -- he and I talked about "I Want My Name Back" (about Sugarhill Gang) and him seeing Marshall Tucker when the only "original" was a roadie!
Opener: Patrolled By Radar ("PBR" -- get it?), a two man twangy folky blues rock group. Some interesting tunes.
Headliners: The Alvin brothers played for nearly 2 hours. The band was impressive backing up the Alvins. Phil's voice still sounds terrific. They picked some great old bluesy, rockabilly material. The show was anticipated to contain no Blasters material, but they did play "Marie Marie" to excellent effect. They played many songs from the new CD. A really solid music performance from a talented group.
     The most enjoyable thing for me was the stories that Dave told between the songs. He talked about old records bought many years ago, family travels, concerts attended in the old days, and the original artists that they were covering. Excellent.
Meeting the band: I waited around with a group of other folks hoping the Alvin brothers would join us near the merch table for a chat and an autograph. I was armed with my trusty Sharpies and paint pens. I hoped to have the band sign the cover of the CD. When they did not come out, I was about to give up and drive home. I noted that a few folks (seemed to be friends of the band) had been ushered thru a door and the Alvins were there -- in what turned out to be the front of the church. A woman asked the security guy and he suggested we try going outside the building to the front facing the street -- what would initially have been the entrance to the church. The woman gave up as it was raining. I walked right up, paused, then asked the Alvin brothers for an autograph. Dave said "sure!". So I produced my CD and black Sharpie. They personalized it to "Tim". I told Phil I would see the Blasters in concert soon in Columbus. I asked him about the cover photo and he said that was from a place about 100 miles from their home at the time in California. I was VERY excited to get the autographs of Phil Alvin and Dave Alvin!
My personal rating: 4/5 stars.

Dave Alvin is on the left (hat). Phil Alvin is in the middle.