King of California (album)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(A-)[2]

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Mark Deming wrote of the album "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, pointing the way for his later albums Blackjack David and Public Domain."[1]

All songs by Dave Alvin unless otherwise noted.

1. "King of California" – 4:51
2. "Barn Burning" – 4:01
3. "Fourth of July" – 4:35
4. "Goodbye Again" (Dave Alvin, Rosie Flores) – 3:58
5. "East Texas Blues" (Alexander Herman Moore) – 4:07
6. "Every Night About This Time" – 4:24
7. "Bus Station" – 4:04
8. "Mother Earth" (Memphis Slim) – 3:39
9. "Blue Wing" (Tom Russell) – 3:43
10. "Little Honey" (Alvin, John Doe) – 5:10
11. "(I Won't Be) Leaving" – 5:06
12. "What Am I Worth" (Darrell Edwards, George Jones) – 3:20
13. "Border Radio" – 3:51

• Dave Alvin – vocals, guitar
• Chris Gaffney – background vocals
• Bob Glaub – bass
• Patrick Warren – keyboards
• Don Heffington – drums, percussion
• James Cruce – drums, percussion, washboard
• Bob Clar – bass, percussion
• Greg Leisz – guitar, slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, lap slide guitar, Weissenborn, mandolin
• Alan Deremo – bass
• Skip Edwards – accordion, organ
• Don Falzone – bass
• Rosie Flores – vocals on "Goodbye Again"
• Bobby Lloyd Hicks – drums, percussion, background vocals
• James Intveld – bass
• David Jackson – accordion
• Donald Lindley – drums, percussion, background vocals
• Syd Straw – vocals on "What Am I Worth"
• Steve Van Celder – fiddle
• Jimmie Wood - Harmonica

• Paul DuGre – engineer, mixing
• Joe Peccerillo – assistant engineer
• Gavin Lurssen – mastering
• Shelly Heber – design
• Beth Herzhaft – photography