This is my Android list_item layout XML:
<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:paddingRight="?android:attr/scrollbarSize"
android:background="@drawable/list_bg">
<TextView
android:id="@+id/tv_displayname"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:ellipsize="end"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
</RelativeLayout>
This is the list_bg image:

and yet here is what it looks like when shown in Android emulator:

I can see that the background is being applied because there is a slight gradient effect to it, but I have no idea where this black overlay is coming from!
have you tried a different image to see if that one does the same thing? to me it looks like it is creating the image behind the list in your
RelativeLayoutand your textview background is on top. since you are setting it to fill the width of the row, i bet if you just set towrap_contentyou would see it behind theretry putting the image as your
TextViewbackground instead