The Guilty Women lineup of Cindy Cashdollar, Nina Gerber, Laurie Lewis, Christy McWilson, Sarah Brown, Amy Farris and Lisa Pankratz debuted at the 2008 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Alvin knew instantly this was the band he would record with. "It just felt so natural," says Alvin. "It was like I had been playing with them for a hundred years."

Their self-titled album on Yep Roc Records was released in May of this year, simultaneously with the Alvin-curated tribute to late friend and band mate Chris Gaffney, Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney. After the death of long-time Guilty Men accordionist and best friend Chris Gaffney, Alvin set out compiling a tribute to the man and his songs, racking up tracks by heavyweights like Calexico, Los Lobos, Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry and many others. The album benefits Gaffney's family and the nonprofit Hungry for Music, who provide musical instruments to underprivileged children.

With the catharsis of the tribute album project in tow, Alvin turned his attention to his next musical move. One thing was clear: he knew he wasn't yet ready to record with The Guilty Men again. The wound of Gaffney's death was still too fresh, the space on the stage where he once stood still too empty. Alvin decided now was the time for something new. Knowing the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival was just up the tracks, he called friend and Austin-based guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, who jumped in with both feet, the other ladies following suit.

Having played together in various incarnations with several Guilty Women in the past, Alvin was confident the chemistry would be right. "The reality that we'd never played together as a group and that there was no time to rehearse before our debut performance didn't bother me at all. I knew that they were all master musicians who could easily handle any sort of song I could throw at them. And that's exactly what they did and they did it effortlessly and beautifully."

The Austin, Tex. recording sessions progressed in much the same fashion, with Christy McWilson contributing two songs, Sarah Brown one and an Amy Farris/Dave Alvin co-write. The tunes were built around Alvin's acoustic guitar work, with the ladies surrounding Alvin with an instrumental blanket that made it clear womanly intuition isn't just an emotional asset but a musical one as well.