• Simply one of the finest singer-songwriters of his generation, Alejandro Escovedo's critical cachet has always outstripped his name recognition and commercial impact.

    — Slant

  • One of those songwriters whose words I never tire of. Wherever I go, people talk about him with awe. Even if he takes me someplace beyond lonely for a while, that’s okay, because I know, like Alejandro, that hearts like ours were made to be broke.

    — Author Larry Brown, Men's Journal

  • Escovedo proves he can do practically anything, and do it as well as anyone, from blazing power-chord assaults that reveal his love of the Stooges and the Stones to teary eyed ballads that could turn George Jones into a sobbing shell of a man.

    — Miami New Times

  • Musically, Alejandro Escovedo is in his own genre.

    — Rolling Stone
Hometown: 
Austin, TX

READ ABOUT THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF A MAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Alejandro's whole life has pretty much been documented already and reads like a "How to Make Rock and Roll A Lifelong Profession" primer. Ground Zero punk rock dude with The Nuns (they opened for the Sex Pistols last show, you know), cowpunk progenitor in Rank and File, gutter brawling guitar rawker in True Believers and Buick MacKane and now a songwriter and performer without peer; you know the story.

An Alejandro concert will find him playing for hours and draining himself and his audience with his performance. They can be full on punk sets that make all that SoCal pretty boy punk seem as tepid as it really is, and then he can stop it all on a dime and tear the room's collective heart out with a sparse, harrowing confessional. In between, there may be lots of moments of him getting his glam rocks off by digging into the Ian Hunter or Bowie songbook. He can show up with just himself and a guitar, his huge chamber rock orchestra, a lean and mean rock and roll combo, or a string quintet.

We've seen Alejandro dozens of times, and we really never know what to expect, and we never get bored. He can whip out every one of his songs ten different ways, depending on the mood, and they will jump into the rumble seat of your gut every time.

 

Artist Website
Compilation Tracks: 
Recommended if You Like: 
Elvis Costello
Chuck Prophet
Graham Parker
Los Lobos
The Hold Steady

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