Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore in London

It's quite a surprise to hear that Dave Alvin, once of the Blasters, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who I last saw with the Flatlanders, had never performed together until two years ago, despite being friends for over three decades. As they showed last night at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, they have an easy relationship on stage and the resulting music is superb. Their album 'Downey to Lubbock' was the bedrock of many of their numbers but both of them took something from their past in a set which was highly enjoyable.
They began with their album title track and followed up with a Flatlanders song  'Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown' and a Dave Alvin number, 'Johnny Ace Is Dead'. In the past Dave has played with the Guilty Men and the Guilty Women but today their excellent band is the Guilty Ones ( their drummer is Lisa Pankratz, bass Brad Fordham and guitarist Chris Miller). 'Silverlake', written by Steve Young  came next, followed by the excellent Blasters number 'Long White Cadillac' and an original, from their recent album,  'Billy the Kid and Geronimo'.

In one of several fascinating stories between songs they revealed that the two of them had both frequented the Ash Grove, a blues club in LA, when they were young  and that they were both fans of Lightning Hopkins, whose song 'Buddy Brown's Blues' was beautifully delivered. Other songs included the Grateful Dead's 'Ripple', Dave's 'Dry River', with a lengthy drum solo, Jimmie's 'Get Together' and the Flatlanders' classic 'Dallas From a DC9'. I missed the encore as I had to leave but this was an exciting and energizing show by two masters of their craft, one a genuine LA rocker and the other one of the greatest Texas troubadours.