Alejandro Escovedo
Friday, June 7, 2024
Austin, TX
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A celebrated singer and songwriter, Alejandro Escovedo has as eclectic a background and body of work as any rock artist of his generation. As comfortable performing with a string ensemble as he is with an amped-up power trio, and as likely to bare his soul in his lyrics as he is to display some serious rock & roll swagger, Escovedo had already played an important role in punk (with the Nuns), roots rock (the True Believers), and alt-country (Rank & File) before he launched a solo career that's seen him work with everyone from Tony Visconti, John Cale to Bruce Springsteen. Beginning with 1992's Gravity, Escovedo's music has been consistently literate, ambitious, and eclectic, with 2001's A Man Under the Influence exploring different genres and approaches from track to track, while 2008's Real Animal and 2016's Burn Something Beautiful focused on passionate, guitar-based rock & roll. 2018's The Crossing (and its 2021 Spanish-language counterpart La Cruzada) told a richly detailed story of the immigrant experience.
Alejandro Escovedo will release Echo Dancing, his first album in six years, on March 29 via YepRoc. It finds the punk/Americana great revisiting and reinventing songs from throughout his career. “I always feel that a well-written song can withstand a lot of abuse,” Escovedo says. “Turning a past song inside out leads to discovery of new ideas you might not have understood about the song. Even lyrical refurbishing has proven helpful and effective. It’s like interpreting your own work anew. The songs never seem to be complete. They are always evolving.”