Vinyl LP pressing. 2021 release. On August 20, 2020 the world lost an amazing light with the passing of Justin Townes Earle. Justin was a vibrant songwriter who could play the blues, country, and rock n roll all in the same song.
"While King of California was often lumped in with the then-fashionable unplugged craze, in retrospect it was the album where Dave Alvin's abilities as a performer began to catch up with his gifts as a songwriter..." --Mark Deming
Even though Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins had both been well-known jazzmen since the early 1920s, it wasn't until 1962 - at least 20 years after Duke first suggested it - that these two recorded their only session together.