Eleven Eleven (Expanded Edition), Yep Roc ***

On this special three-CD edition (including a live DVD and some outtakes) of his excellent 2011 album, Californian Dave Alvin shows why he is one of the key figures in the Americana genre. There's the muscular guitar embroidered with sharp licks and crash chords, the array of songs steeped in world-weary blues and country and parts between, and that deep, knowing voice that has lost none of its attitude in the nearly 40 years that Alvin has been hammering home his renegade message. Supported by The Guilty Ones, Alvin lets rip on the rumbling Harlan County Line; Johnny Ace Is Dead, about the 1954 death of the RB singer; and Long White Cadillac, made famous by Dwight Yoakam. But you don't need the DVD: Alvin is in Ireland for a series of gigs beginning in Whelan's in Dublin next Wednesday. davealvin.net

Download tracks:Harlan County Line, Johnny Ace Is Dead