American Music by The Blasters

American Music, the Blasters' 1980 debut, takes its name from the band's own tag for what they play, and it's a fair summary: rockabilly, early rock and roll, R&B, country and mountain music, all hit with a punk's urgency. The band had come together in Downey, California, the year before, built around brothers Phil Alvin on vocals and guitar and Dave Alvin on guitar, with John Bazz on bass and Bill Bateman on drums.

Phil sings like a man raised on jukebox 45s, and the band plays like the building's about to close. The songs travelled fast: Shakin' Stevens turned "Marie Marie" into a breakthrough hit that same year, Matchbox cut it too, and the title track became the theme for the early '80s TV series New Wave Theatre. The Blasters liked "Marie Marie", "American Music" and "Never No Mo' Blues" enough to record them again for their second album, and Hightone Records brought the debut to CD in 1997.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.