‘Lost Time’ picks play to Alvins’ strengths

Anyone who was in college in the early to mid-1980s probably has heard of the Blasters. The California band founded by brothers Phil and Dave Alvin blended a punk ethic with blues, and was at the vanguard of a roots rock movement that gave rise to bands such as Los Lobos and Lone Justice.

The Alvins famously fell out in 1986. Dave Alvin, the primary songwriter, left the band and settled into a prolific solo career, while Phil Alvin has continued to record and tour with various versions of The Blasters. It would be nearly three decades before the Alvins patched things up – inspired in large part by Phil Alvin’s near-death experience while touring in Spain in 2012.

Their first record together, 2014’s “Common Ground,” celebrated the music of bluesman Big Bill Broonzy and earned a Grammy nomination. Today, the Alvins release a follow-up LP, “Lost Time,” a collection of covers by everyone from Big Joe Turner and Lead Belly to James Brown and Blind Boy Fuller.

A national tour in support of “Lost Time” heads to Chateau Rive at the Flour Mill next week. In a phone interview from Denver, Dave Alvin said that in picking the songs for “Lost Time,” he and his brother looked for tunes that played to their strengths. Namely, they’re songs Phil Alvin can sing the hell out of.

“In the roots music scene, there’s a lot of great vocalists, but there aren’t a lot of great vocalists like my brother,” Dave Alvin said.

“My brother has a voice that comes from that age of the great blues singers. … And there’s also a little Al Jolson in there, there’s a little of the old vaudeville ‘Sell it to the back row’ power in his voice.”

The Alvins were raised on blues, and many of the songs on “Lost Time” are old favorites. Alvin admits there’s a message there, too.

“When I say ‘Lost Time,’ it’s not only the 30 years we spent not making music together, it’s about the lost time of childhood, of friends being gone, of family being gone,” he said.

Writing in PopMatters, critic Steve Horowitz heaps high praise on “Lost Time,” saying “The variety of material makes this disc even better than last year’s best blues album Grammy nominee, or maybe it’s just because the duo have become more comfortable performing together? Whatever the reason, the pleasures of the new record are broad and deep.”

The old battles of the past, the natural competition between two talented brothers, has faded away, and Alvin said he and his brother have mellowed considerably. Working together again, he said, makes him happy.

“The mutual respect is there, where it may not have been 30 years ago,” Alvin said. “I treasure it. People tell me these days on stage I smile more than I ever have, and there’s a certain giddiness to it. … There’s a certain amount of the only way to go home again is for us to walk on stage together.”

Speaking of walking on stage, Alvin said people shouldn’t come expecting to see a Blasters show. However, longtime fans of that influential group aren’t likely to be too disappointed.

“The set list covers everything from the two albums together through songs from my solo records to Blasters songs, to something that we decide to cover that day,” he said. “You never know.”