The Third Mind

Dave Alvin steps outside his established place in roots rock and Americana circles by leading the Third Mind, a studio-only collective whose spontaneous sound fuses rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz, and free improvisation. The ensemble first appeared on the 2020 release The Third Mind, an album born from Alvin’s wish to explore unconventional approaches to playing and tracking that yielded music at once demanding, exhilarating, and unhurried. The same impulse produced a second set of sessions that surfaced as The Third Mind 2 in 2023.

The idea for the group took shape after Alvin read So What, John Szwed’s biography of Miles Davis. Szwed recounted how Davis prepared several of his groundbreaking 1970s fusion dates by choosing only a key and a tempo, then letting the musicians improvise until they reached a natural conclusion; afterward, Davis and producer Teo Macero shaped the performances through editing into the finished albums Bitches Brew, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and On the Corner.

Determined to test a comparable process, Alvin recruited musicians suited to collective invention. The core lineup featured Alvin on guitar and vocals alongside David Immerglück (Counting Crows, Cracker, Monks of Doom) on guitar and keyboards, Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) on bass, Michael Jerome (John Cale, Richard Thompson, Better than Ezra) on drums, and Jesse Sykes on guitar and vocals; D.J. Bonebrake of X added vibraphone while Jack Rudy, whose résumé spans Johnny Rivers to Margaret Cho, contributed harmonica. The players arrived without prior rehearsal and recorded interpretations of material by Alice Coltrane, Fred Neil, Tim Rose, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the 13th Floor Elevators, plus one new piece composed on the spot, all guided by continuous improvisational exchange. Yep Roc Records issued the resulting album The Third Mind in February 2020; the following April the musicians brought the approach to audiences during a West Coast tour. They revisited the method for The Third Mind 2, another unrehearsed session that included versions of songs associated with the Electric Flag, Fred Neil, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the Jaynetts together with the fresh composition “Tall Grass.”