Ashgrove

Review

If Ashgrove seems at first blush to be a somewhat schizophrenic alternation between bar-band blues-rock and melodic country-folk, rest assured that Dave Alvin is equally comfortable at either end of that spectrum — and all the terrain in between. After making a name for himself as a hotshot guitarist with rousing roots-rockers the Blasters in the early '80s (plus a brief stint with punk legends X), Alvin went solo and eventually established himself as a first-rate songwriter. He won a traditional folk Grammy for his 2000 release Public Domain, but he's equally versed in traditional blues, as the odd-numbered songs on Ashgrove attest. The title track delves deeply into the source of his inspiration: the Ash Grove, a Los Angeles nightclub where he saw blues legends such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Turner perform in the late '60s. But the most moving moments here are the ballads — especially "Everett Ruess," the true-story retelling of an adventurous artist's mysterious disappearance in the Utah wilderness, and "The Man in the Bed," in which Alvin envisions his father's struggle with Parkinson's disease. "The nurse over there doesn't know. . . I could have broken her heart not that long ago," he sings, his voice lingering with longing for the life he feels slipping away.