2005 ACL Fest Home > Reports from the ACL Festival > Archives > 2005 > September > 25 > Entry
Up a ‘Dry River’ with Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men
Near the end of his perfectly timed 45 minute set in the multiset bleed zone known as the Austin Ventures stage, Dave Alvin sang “Ashgrove,” a song about how he longed to return to a dark nightclub of his youth. Choked in the dust and baked in the sun, many in the respectful, yet not entirely enthused, audience were no doubt begging to be brought along.
Backed by the Guilty Men, Austinites Chris Miller on guitar, drummer Darren Hess and New Orleans exile Dale Spalding on harmonica, plus way too loud bassist Gregory Boaz, Alvin seemed out of sorts in the heat and had to cut his set short when his amp gave out during “American Music,” from his old Blasters band.
But on “Out of Control,” with its gutbucket wordplay, and “Dry River,” featuring Miller on otherwordly steel guitar, Alvin and Co. put it all together and for a few moments there even drown out a band that should’ve been called the Septemberists in the insane heat.
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