Alejandro Escovedo & The Sensitive Boys--Live from Fairfield Ct.--Punk Energy meets Alt-Country

On April 11 I went to see Alejandro Escovedo live for the 3rd time, at the FTC in Fairfield, Ct.

Pointy toed wonder visits Nutmeg State

In retrospect, I should have gone again the next night there too. I really had a great time. I had hoped he would play a little closer to me, but it was worth the drive. I never saw him perform with a full band before (& the Sensitive Boys), so I was looking forward to this show. The first time I saw him, he played with guitarist David Pulkingham, and the 2nd time he was accompanied by Susan Voelz on violin. Both shows were superb--in particular, the show with Pulkingham was one of my favorite shows I have seen at the Tarrytown Music Hall.

Let me just briefly say that the FTC is a terrific place to see a show. It is a matchbook size venue, not much larger than late lamented Maxwell's was in Hoboken--not one bad seat in the house. It's right in downtown Fairfield near the train station. Plenty of places to eat and hang out nearby.

I got there pretty early and was chatting a little with the woman who was setting up the merch table in the lobby outside the theater. Apparently, there had been some personnel changes in the group. Pulkingham was no longer in the band, and there was also a new drummer. While I was a little disappointed that Pulkingham was no longer involved, as he and Alejandro seemed to have a real synchronicity together on stage, I have been around the block enough to know that change can make things interesting.

Once again the show was fantastic. The combination of Alejandro's music and the intimacy of the venue (I was about ten feet from the stage), made the show more like a party than a concert. He had the whole place singing along and dancing, a crowd composed of mostly greybeards and large people from Texas. I didn't realize it but there seems to be a real Austin vs Houston thing going, as was evidenced in Escovedo's preemptive remarks for his song "Bottom of the World". But it seemed as though no Texans seemed to mind that night.

While the previous shows were rather quietly intense and emotional, this concert rocked quite hard. In fact, when he performed the song "Arizona" he apologized for creating a buzzkill, well, because its a very sad song, kind of about him almost dying a little over ten years ago. While I don't have other full band shows to compare it to, I have to believe that this new lineup may be injecting some new vitality into the band. This was a simple four piece, not the gigantic band I saw him with on Austin City Limits. But the new guitarist, Johnny Sanchez, is without a doubt a true gunslinger, who played with a lot of fire. My take is that I don't think he has been in the band for too long and maybe the on-stage timing is still a work in progress, but it in no way detracted from the performance.



While most fans probably acknowledge him as an Alt-Country performer first and foremost, Alejandro was letting his his punk rock roots that night. By the second song of the night the band was in full throttle, with a rip-roaring version of Tender Heart, from Street Songs of Love. Alejandro was pumped up--it seemed like he Sanchez were picking up energy from each other. Throughout the night when they were riffing out together, their postures on stage kept reminding me of the Clash on the cover of London Calling, rather than sensitive singer song-writing fare.

I can't emphasize how much people need to get out and see him live. I won't name names, but somebody who obviously has seen a few of his shows mentioned to me that Alejandro is much better live than on record. I agree, with the caveat that his albums are great, in particular his most recent four. It is only by comparison. He really is one of our best modern American songwriters and a great live act. He seems to tour constantly so he probably is coming to your area soon.

The warm-up artist was Amy Cook, a singer-songwriter who I think is also from Austin, Texas. She was pretty entertaining. I would idiosyncratically describe her as Stevie Nicks singing Billy Bragg songs, only not the political ones. I guess I'm saying that she sings with a lot of heart, on stage being herself and not a poor imitation so somebody else. I thought she was a real talent.

Toward the end Alejandro and the band performed a few choice covers, which gave Sanchez a chance to show Fairfieldites his chops. Alejandro and Johnny traded leads on their version of Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane". I'm not always thrilled about things like this, but I thought it was a lot of fun. They also performed Mott the Hoople's classic "All the Young Dudes" perhaps in homage to the young blood in his revamped lineup, and that was also a blast. He must have been really influenced by Mott, as I had the privilege of seeing him duet with Ian Hunter on "I wish I was your Mother" at Tarrytown a few years ago.

So go see Alejandro while you can. He said he was working on a new album with Chuck Prophet, so expect more great music soon. And always support great venues like the FTC, because without our support, the Arts wither and die on the vine. Every town should be so lucky as to have a spot like this!

Alejandro Escovedo returns to Tarrytown Music Hall and I was there!

I feel particularly privileged to be able to say I got to see Alejandro Escovedo this past Friday at the Tarrytown Music Hall once again. He was the warmup act for Shelby Lynne, though to be fair he played much longer than opening acts ordinarily do.

The man tours a lot and he seems to be getting at least some of recognition that he has earned. Certainly many musicians hold him in high esteem. Hell, when he plays New Jersey they have to put up barricades to keep Springsteen from hopping on stage with him.

Two years ago he performed along with David Pulkingham on guitar, and it was outstanding. Alejandro's a charming guy with a seemingly unending accumulation of anecdotes, a first class songwriter, and it easily was one of the best shows I've ever seen at Tarrytown. Pulkingham has a lot of musical chops, but what was really amazing how they complemented each other on stage.




As good as these shows have been, I still want to see him with his full band though.



This time around it was Alejandro with Susan Voelz, who is probably best known for her work with Poi Dog Pondering. She is a violinist, and she was awesome to say the least. They've collaborated together for years apparently, and this was a combination that really worked. At some points in the show I started thinking Velvet Underground, with the intensity of her violin reminding me a bit of the John Cale/Heroin/Electric Viola period. They did songs like Down in The Bowery, Sally was a Cop, Sister Lost Soul, and Five Hearts Breaking. He told us that Sister Lost Soul was not really about Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club, but was actually about his ex-wife who was now deceased.

At the end of the set, he asked for the house lights to be turned on. He & Susan strode to the front of the stage and performed Rosalie without  mikes. Beautiful song, and an amazing story of enduring love behind the song.



He is such an amazing songwriter. As I sat watching the show, I was thinking that maybe 75 years from now people would still be singing these songs. In the same way The Band and Bob Dylan looked back in time to what we would call traditional music.  But the funny thing is that his songs seemed to be based in real life and about real people. Years later maybe all the specifics  will long be forgotten and disassociated from the music, but the power and emotional resonance will still remain.

Two standing ovations for an opening act is no small feat. Probably a few tears were shed in the audience. I felt a little bad for Shelby Lynne. She was alright, but I guess I'm not really into country that much. She has a big voice and I enjoyed  a lot of her songs. She seemed like a pretty gutsy person. She played guitar and had two guitarists supporting her who were extremely fine musicians. She ran the set democratically, allowing the two guys to air out their instruments, and it was fun to see them intricately and effortlessly trading licks. The guy playing slide guitar was especially interesting, and on one song he played either the mandolin or ukulele. Overall, she was well received, but I think the crowd was a little more interested in Alejandro's set. He actually came out later with Susan Voelz and did a duet with Shelby Lynne, singing All I Have to Do is Dream, by the Everly Brothers. Sweet.

It seems that Alejandro is always on tour, so if he is in your vicinity you should go out see one of our country's most accomplished songwriters live while you can. My only regret is that I wished he had better swag for sale at his gigs. And yeah, I'm still waiting for the DVD.

Alejandro Escovedo--Live & In Studio

This April I had the privilege of seeing Alejandro Escovedo perform at the Tarrytown Music Hall. He performed along with guitarist David Pulkingham, one of the Sensitive Boys, his touring band. I expected it to be a good show, but I was amazed at what a fantastic live performer he is. He definitely is an artist not to be missed, one of the great unappreciated modern American songwriters. There were sublime moments such as his performance of Rosalie, from his "Hand of the Father" collaborative project plus uptempo intense moments like Always A Friend, from his album "Real Animal". He also included songs from Street Songs of Love his upcoming album. He and Pulkingham really complemented each other on guitars, collaborating together to leave the audience enraptured. He also had a funny, likable stage presence. The icing on the cake was the encore performance, when Ian Hunter came on stage and traded verses with Alejandro on his classic "I Wish I Was Your Mother", which can actually be seen on Youtube. Graham Parker was the opener, who provided a solo set with both old songs plus songs from his brand new album "Imaginary Television".

I just picked up the new cd yesterday, and I have to say it is very good. Very uptempo, harder rocking than his other albums, but poppier than his Buick McKane band. The album definitely has a lot of the intensity that bowled me over at his live performance. And all love songs. From the  very first spin, I enjoyed it. A lot of the songs were written with ex-Green on Red's Chuck Prophet. There are also cameo appearances by Ian Hunter (down in the Bowery) & Bruce Springsteen (Faith). I thought the addition of the backup vocalists really helped bring this album, sometimes like a 50's song, in other cases like on Silver Cloud backups reminiscent of Mink DeVille. The album seems kind of radio-ready, but that really is not something that I can find that much of a problem with--if it means that more people will find out about his music and come to shows, more power to him. While Boxing Mirror & Real Animal seemed to be dealing with the past--self-analyzing & nostalgic, this album kind of feels like a forward departure. I particularly liked "Anchor", the strong lead track, the aforementioned "silver cloud", "this bed is getting crowded", "down in the bowery" & the lovely ballad "after the meteor showers". "Faith" is also a good rocker with tough lyrics. If you love straight ahead rock n roll & good songwriting you can't go wrong with this. If you like this you will probably want to hear all his music, even back to the days when he was in the Nuns & the fantastic country punk band Rank & File. I'm hoping that Escovedo comes to New York soon, because it was probably the best show I've seen in Tarrytown, & that includes Richard Thompson & Calexico.