Blasters' Phil Alvin Rejects Albums, Embraces Technology byy Kenneth Partridge
There are plenty of things Phil Alvin loves about the history of American music, but the record industry isn't one of them. It's not just that the longtime Blasters front man doesn't trust label execs, although he's been around long enough to know why he shouldn't. On a more fundamental level, he rejects the idea that music should be pressed onto pieces of plastic — records, cassettes, CDs — and sold by large corporations. "The album was an artificial imprint on music that didn't exist before [record labels]," Alvin says from California shortly before beginning a Blasters tour that stops Saturday in New Haven.
In a sense, it's strange to hear Alvin take such a nontraditional stance. Since he and his brother Dave formed the Blasters in 1979, the band has taken an almost scholarly approach to classic American sounds — rockabilly, most notably, but also R&B, country and blues. Alongside California contemporaries such as X and Los Lobos, the Blasters proved that roots music could be relevant in the age of punk, a genre that, to some, was bent on destroying all that had come before. complete article
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