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Alejandro Escovedo's Bio:

The Boxing MirrorThe release of a new album in 2006 is good news from Alejandro Escovedo in more ways than one. First, of course, is that The Boxing Mirror is a great new album from one of Austin's finest songwriter/musicians. But it is also a signal that the illness that almost felled Escovedo has been overcome and he is feeling good enough to work again. These new songs grew out of the harrowing landscape of illness. They were written with his wife, poet Kim Christoff, as well as Chris Stamey and guitarist Jon Dee Graham. The album was produced by John Cale. It is a must-have work from the master.

Por VidaThe 2004 release, Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo, is a 2 disc collection of songs written by Escovedo but performed by other singers. The album was put together by Escovedo's friends as a fund raising effort when Escovedo was struck with Hepatitis C. A few of the singers on Por Vida include Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Reckless Kelly, Jennifer Warnes, Los Lonely Boys, Charlie Sexton, and Rosie Flores.

Alejandro Escovedo album coverReleased in 2001, A Man Under the Influence, is Alejando Escovedo's latest hit album. This is his sixth album, and it realizes the promise of his remarkable gifts as singer, songwriter, and arranger.

In bands such as influential first-wave punk outfits like The Nuns, the cowpunk (country and punk) Rank and File, a roots rock collaboration with his younger brother in The True Believers, and the legendary Austin rock band Buick MacKane, Alejandor Escovedo has played various styles. He comes from a family deeply involved in Latino music. His dad was a mariachi. His niece is Sheila E.

Alejandro Escovedo album coverThese days he's playing with the Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra. Escovedo's 1999 release, Bourbonitis Blues, has received good reviews. The Austin American Statesman said, "Escovedo never sounded more uninhibited." The album is a collection of four originals and five covers. According to the Washington Post, "Despite the material's second-hand nature, Escovedo and his band (rock quartet, cello and violin) put their own stamp on everything. And one of the new songs, 'I Was Drunk,' is as good as anything Escovedo's done."

Alejandro EscovedoThe stunning With these Hands, penned after a lengthy period of personal crisis earned high marks as well, and was hailed as a return to his rock-n-roll instincts.

He used a folk-rock rhythm section and a string quartet to spectacular effect on 1992's Gravity and 1993's Thirteen Years. In Gravity Escovedo settled on a five-piece format, using guitar, drums, keyboards and cello. He said, "We like to create this real thick atmosphere, to let the words stand out and make it sort of meditative and dramatic. And we lost that as the band grew, because it became more like a show band with the horns and percussion solos. Then one night we played a gig with just the five of us and we got back to that real thick atmosphere, with the cello more or less as lead instrument." That sound became Gravity. The album helped Alejandro earn Musician Of The Year honors at the 1993 Austin Music Awards.

With the Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra, ranging in size from 3 to 13 members, he has been an annual highlight at the South by Southwest Music Conference. There, the depth of his songwriting and revelatory interpretations convince listeners that he deserves to reach even greater heights.

User: hitech

Alejandro Escovedo's Albums
Hear Music: Waking
Tales From the Edge - Volumes Nine & Ten - Deep Ellum: History Bites-eight Arms to Hold You
The Boxing Mirror

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
iAlejandro Agonistes may yet have a happy ending but you wouldnt guess it from this torrent of surrealism and gothic textures. Escovedos first album since nearly succumbing to hepatitis C and crushing debt in 2003 is the darkest most mysterious album of his career--a harrowing poetic soundscape partly the result of producer John Cales industrial-noir sensibilities but also Escovedos own avant-garde punk roots. The difficult trilogy which opens the album moves from arid Arizona (a wasteland where the soul finds nary a drop to drink) to a conversation with a dear head on the wall that becomes a negative Zen poem (The sadness will come / When there is no one) to a cryptic vision of a buck trampling a wandering doe. Writing with his wife poet Kim Christoff as well as Chris Stamey and guitarist Jon Dee Graham Escovedo isnt just confronting his own mortality and the mistakes which plunged him into a nightmare. Hes courting a idanse macabre for the sounds and poetry he finds there. On Sacramento and Polk he surveys a bohemian hell through a Thorazine haze while the Princely groove of Take Your Place only seems like a discordant funk party until the lyrics sink in: Im going down down down / Theres nothing here. Escovedos voice has weathered the physical ravages caressing all the Mexican nuances out of the synth- and cello-sweetened Evitas Lullaby and breaking beautifully on the country ballad Died a Little Today which like each of these emotionally concentrated tracks is as literal as it is elusive. --iRoy Kasten
Room of Songs
Por Vida: A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
Stricken with Hepatitis C in April 2003 and lacking health insurance Alejandro Escovedo has been the focus of scores of benefit concerts in Austin Texas and across the U.S. These 32 songs offer further aid--and a dizzying daring appraisal of a brilliant if commercially hard-luck songwriter. Opening with Lucinda Williamss slurred Spartan electric groove the set covers the obscure (Sacramento Polk in a manic paranoid take by Lenny Kaye) and the exquisite (the road-weary ballad Thirteen Years in a stately aching reading by Tejano legend Ruben Ramos). Those familiar with the restless style-shifting of Escovedos career wont be surprised by the juxtaposition of Ian Hunters bar-band strut with the Jayhawks psychedelic wall of delay or Peter Cases glam garage with Bob Neuwirths unguarded accordion-laced sigh. Surprises include a poignant vocal turn from keyboard legend Ian McLagan a reunited and stunningly revived Son Volt and Escovedo himself charging through a new tempo-twisting rocker cut just before he fell ill. There is tangible enthusiasm even love in the performances of these wildly diverse admirers. Roy Kasten


Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
On this two disc set Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo over 30 acts from across the musical spectrum - including Escovedos friends family peers influences and admirers - offer their inspired interpretations of his material packaged with liner notes by famed critic Dave Marsh. Participating artists include Lucinda Williams Steve Earle Los Lonely Boys John Cale Cowboy Junkies Son Volt Jayhawks Ian Hunter and many more. The album also features a previously unreleased performance by Alejandro Escovedo.
With These Hands
Gravity (Bonus CD)
Thirteen Years (Bonus CD)

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
More often than not strings have often served as a wet blanket in rock roll smothering the rough edges and dampening the enthusiasm. There have been exceptions though when a small string section has been used sympathetically on rock roll songs sprucing up the rhythms and sharpening the tensions. Perhaps the best examples are the Drifters There Goes My Baby the Beatles Eleanor Rigby Van Morrisons Cypress Avenue Lou Reeds Street Hassle and Chics Good Times. Alejandro Escovedos brilliant IThirteen Years is a landmark addition to the latter tradition. Unlike Elvis Costellos Juliet Letters which used a string quartet without a rock roll rhythm section IThirteen Years marries the dense sustaining harmonies of the one to the implacable momentum of the other. Geoffrey Himes
By the Hand of the Father

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
Not exactly Alejandro Escovedos latest album this is a partial documentation of a project hes been involved with for the past three years an exploration of the dynamics of Mexican-American family life in words music and pictures. As a stage work IBy the Hand of the Father has been performed all over North America to great acclaim and from the evidence here a lot of that has to be due to the music some of which Escovedo fans will recognize from previous albums (Wave Ballad of the Sun and the Moon With These Hands). In addition to some new material there are also a couple of more traditional Mexican songs (Mexico Americano Cancion Mixteca) and guest vocalists include Ruben Ramos Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos) and Rosie Flores. The spoken bits link the songs and the whole thing should definitely whet your appetite to see the full show. This is not background music. Ed Ward
A Man Under the Influence

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
Produced by Chris Stamey (former dBs) and performed by many of Alejandros band of usual suspects it also features the contributions of Eric Heywood (Richard Buckner Freakwater)Mitch Easter members of Superchunk Ryan Adams Chip Robinson (The Backsliders) Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown) and more. The albums first two tracks inspired Alejandro to write the play By The Hand Of The Father which has already premiered in L.A. and was be performed at SXSW 2001. 11 tracks. 2001 release.


Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
Ripe with the enigmas of loss love and connections across great distances Alejandro Escovedos sixth solo album realizes the promise of his remarkable gifts as singer songwriter and arranger. On spiraling tiers of pedal steel cellos violins and electric and acoustic guitars his chamber-rock vision comes to full fruition. Hes never made freer garage pop than Castanets never stirred a more sweeping lyricism than in Dont Need You and never laid bare more soul than in the heartbreaking Follow You Down (a ballad Escovedo often dedicates to Townes Van Zandt). Even more amazing are the pairing of Wave and Rosalie subtle dramas of the Mexican-American passage through separation and faith and the swirling aching About This Love which concludes Its all about the way/We break to love again. Escovedo has always sought a poetic fusing of sound and image; with IA Man Under the Influence that search is complete. Roy Kasten
Bourbonitis Blues

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
Bourbonitis Blues was recorded straight up no chaser (in Chicago Austin and Chapel Hill) in down home style -- this is Alejandro and his classical glam Orchestra at their finest: off the cuff loose and tight and reflective of their incredible live shows. The covers range from the achingly languid Pale Blue Eyes featuring Kelly Hogan (ex-Jody Grind ex-Rock*A*Teens) on vocals to the chugging cover of Jimmie Rodgers California Blues with Jon Langford (Mekons Waco Brothers Pine Valley Cosmonauts) guesting on guitar and vocals to the spooked up version of the Gun Clubs Sex Beat (featuring Trailer Brides Melissa Swingle)


Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
When INo Depression magazine declared Alejandro Escovedo The Artist of the Decade the decision must have baffled everyone except the handful of people who had actually listened to his records. On his three studio albums and 1998s triumphant live album he blended violin cello and buzz-saw guitar to fashion an utterly distinctive chamber-punk sound. He needed such a sound to accommodate songs about the stillness and terror of those early morning hours when you cant hide from the whats it all for? questions. iBourbonitis Blues isnt as epochal as its predecessors because it has been cobbled together from three different sessions and offers only three new originals. But Escovedos one-of-a-kind arrangements are as haunting as ever; his remakes of songs by Lou Reed John Cale Gun Club Jimmie Rodgers and Ian Hunter are revealing and the three new numbers are very good indeed. Contributions are made by past and current members of the Mekons Squirrel Nut Zippers Jody Grind and dBs. Geoffrey Himes
More Miles Than Money: Live 1994-96

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
IMore Miles Than Money: Live 1994-96 is the most compelling solo release yet from this Austin roots rock legend an alumnus of Rank File True Believers and Buick MacKane. On these live recordings Alejandro Escovedo broods--usually quietly--in front of solemn picking and a weary cello or violin as is the case during a beautiful version of his best song Pissed Off 2 A.M. A couple of times though he shows he can still rock out (a wicked I Wanna Be Your Dog) and when the electric guitar springs in to steal the show during the Stones Sway the sudden contrast takes your breath away. David Cantwell
The End/Losing Your Touch
Thirteen Years

Alejandro Escovedo Album Editorial:
More often than not strings have often served as a wet blanket in rock roll smothering the rough edges and dampening the enthusiasm. There have been exceptions though when a small string section has been used sympathetically on rock roll songs sprucing up the rhythms and sharpening the tensions. Perhaps the best examples are the Drifters There Goes My Baby the Beatles Eleanor Rigby Van Morrisons Cypress Avenue Lou Reeds Street Hassle and Chics Good Times. Alejandro Escovedos brilliant IThirteen Years is a landmark addition to the latter tradition. Unlike Elvis Costellos Juliet Letters which used a string quartet without a rock roll rhythm section IThirteen Years marries the dense sustaining harmonies of the one to the implacable momentum of the other. Geoffrey Himes
Gravity

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