Inspirations and new pursuits
The many musical lives of Alejandro Escovedo began with his early days in the influential punk band, The Nuns, based in California; then he moved on to New York and helped pioneer the cowpunk sound with Rank and File before heading back to Texas to create yet another well-regarded band with his brother Javier, The True Believers. But after the Believers were dropped by their label, Escovedo finally stepped out on his own, releasing his first solo effort, Gravity, in 1992. Since then, his songwriting has won many admirers and he has crafted albums of deeply personal songs, ranging from heartbreaking ballads to raucous rock anthems to delicately lovely string arrangements. While he has worked with a number of musicians, his most constant collaborators are guitarist David Pulkingham and his drummer of over 20 years, Hector Munoz.
With so many experiences and so many miles under his belt, I asked Escovedo if he ever thought about writing a memoir, or even fiction like his friend, the late Larry Brown.
"Larry always pushed me toward that," he admits. "It's always there working in the background, in the shadows. I have big plans to make a movie. I began making music because I wanted to make a movie. I always thought of my songs as little short movies….My girlfriend and I are talking about doing a book -- a little punk rock book of lyrics and writing and things that inspire me."
But before any forays into books or movies, the busy Escovedo has another very interesting musical endeavor coming up soon.
"I'm doing this beautiful project in Chicago, which is kind of a history of Austin music. It's a special thing called the United Sounds of America….And so I'm going to get the chance to work with a lot of different musicians. I'm creating a two and a half-hour show that represents music from Austin – that's going to be June 18th."
The United Sounds of America Festival is taking place at Chicago's Symphony Center in June and also will have special performances dedicated to the music of New York City, Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, and Route 66, all led by different artists like Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, and Arlo Guthrie. Tickets for Escovedo's Chicago show at Symphony Center are available here.
To wind up our conversation, I asked Escovedo to pick out a few of the true watershed moments -- whether it was an idea, a person, or an event -- that sent him in new directions or created a significant step in his career. He quickly came up with a few.
"I think the show that we did [The Nuns] with the Sex Pistols was pivotal because it showed me that punk rock wasn't what I thought it had been, and that rock and roll was different too, in that I suddenly saw the real intense commerciality of it. Moving to New York was a really big step for me because it introduced me to so many other people that I had admired -- Lou Reed, Judy Nylon, [among others].
"If there's one huge moment in my career that really changed my music, it's when I got sick with Hepatitis C and all those people came to my side -- my fans and all the people who helped me out. It really turned my music around, and I think I made better albums since then. I just think my music has got so much more focused."
Escovedo says he has many more songs to write, but I'm probably not alone in hoping also for a memoir of his extraordinary life in music, a life that seems to me a quintessentially American tale -- the son of an immigrant, born in San Antonio, traversing the country from coast to coast, and becoming a tremendous part of its musical heritage.
You can see Alejandro and the Sensitive Boys perform this Thursday night at Headliners. The show starts at 8:00 p.m. with Jesse Malin and his band, St. Mark's Social, opening. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door.
Performing "Faith" live at Rolling Stone:
