Americana Boogie new releases for the week of June 3rd…Dave & Phil Alvin (together again), Joe Henry, Camper Van Beethoven, John Doe

DAVE ALVIN & PHIL ALVIN
Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy (Yep Roc)

It took a near-death experience to reunite Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin, the California brothers at the heart of the Blasters. “Phil died and was brought back to life over in Spain,” Dave says of his brother’s 2012 health scare. “That was a real wakeup call to me. We hadn’t made a full album together since 1985, but as you get older, you realize you’re not immortal and you’ve only got so much time.” “We’re brothers, we argue sometimes,” Dave adds with a laugh, “but one thing we never argue about is Big Bill Broonzy. I remember the day Phil brought the record home, it was one of those childhood memories like you’re graduating grammar school or stealing your first Playboy. For me, Big Bill is in that elite company of Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, people like that.”

JOE HENRY
The Invisible Hour (Work Song)

You will read in the album’s accompanying liner notes my suggestion that these are all, perhaps, “songs about marriage;” but I should hasten to add that that is a personal observance, and recognized much after the fact. The songs lean into and out of folk tradition as pieces of writing, perhaps, and evidence my earliest loyalties; yet while that offered all of us a tonal bedrock, and suggested the steely rumble of acoustic instrumentation to be an appropriate point of demarcation. Simply stated, it is my intention to be as bold and creative in taking the music out into the world as I tried to be in writing and recording it. (excerpted from Joe’s personal blog notes)

Also new this week…

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN – El Camino Real (429)
JOHN DOE – The Best Of John Doe: This Far (Yep Roc)
MIRANDA LAMBERT – Platinum (RCA Nashville)
NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE – Radio Mixes & Live Bonus (Woodstock)

Coming out soon… MARY GAUTHIER, THE FELICE BROTHERS, CLARENCE BUCARO, BALSAM RANGE, FIRST AID KIT, IAN McLAGAN & THE BUMP BAND, JONAH TOLCHIN, THE MASTERSONS, OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW, THE DUHKS … more new releases.
Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

Above are all of the Americana and roots-type music releases for the week of June 3rd, 2014 from Americana Boogie. Click the artist or album links to find out more. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go either ” target=”_blank”>Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie