Musical Snobbery at it’s finest

I remember the night in 2006 even if the actual date escapes me. We were at our favorite club in Nashville to hear an up and coming singer/songwriter. She was opening for someone we were totally unfamiliar with. After her set, the stage was being set up for the band. Two guitars, bass, keys, drummer, violin and cello. My interest was peaking. Shortly afterwards, Alejandro Escovedo took the stage, and for the next 90 minutes we were taken on a musical and emotional ride that I’ve yet to recover from. Ballads with a Mexican flavor that were perfectly seasoned with the strings, paint peeling rock with a very punk edge to it. The thin, almost gaunt (this was his first tour since an almost fatal bout with Hepatitis C) gentleman with the pinstripe suit blended this mix with lyrics that could not have been more intimate if he just sat with you and shared his innermost secrets.

In the two years since, I’ve have learned a great deal about Alejandro. About his first band, “The Nuns”, who opened for the Sex Pistols in San Francisco? About their stay at the Chelsea Hotel in the day that Nancy Spungen died. About his years in the highly underrated group ‘True Believers’, with his brother Javier and Jon Dee Graham. Speaking of siblings, his brothers Coke and Pete are also percussionists of note. Pete’s daughter is known to the world as Sheila E who garnered fame working with Prince, then as a solo artist. About the suicide of his wife of 13 years after their separation and divorce, which is much of the subject of his first two solo albums. About the bout of Hepatitis C, his near death, and the contribution of many top notch artists who knew him, loved him, and had been influenced by his work to complete a double album of his songs to help with the medical bills that had accumulated over time.

With co-writer Chuck Prophet, he documents much of this with his latest release, “Real Animal”. The title track is written for Iggy Pop, who was a large influence. The sound of the music itself is almost always what grabs me, however the perfect mix of lyric to music draws me to really listen to what is being said. As for what is saying? The imagery mixed with a brutal honesty about life as he sees it (and believe me, he has lived a lot of life) makes him one of the best at his craft. No Depression magazine named him the artist of the 1990’s, his work this decade makes him a candidate for artist of the decade this time as well.

Just a short word before I go….If you like this record or the others that has been released. You HAVE to see him on concert. I’ve been to many concerts over the years, and have never been to one that grabs you at the beginning and doesn’t’ let go like this one. Both videos above are from the tour this summer, one a cut from “Real Animal”, and the other from a previous album. When he came through Nashville this summer it was was him, and his lead guitarist, David Pulkingham. We were blown away by the skills of both, but the intensity. At times it was as if it were the same man playing such was the flow between the two of them. Most of the tour however has been with the full band. Another amazement to me, is how he can use different configurations of band members on a certain song one year, and the next change things up without a change of intensity. Very highly recommended.

http://www.alejandroescovedo.com/
http://www.myspace.com/alejandroescovedo