• 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

Similar Bloodshot Artists

  • Charlie Pickett

    Rising out of the fertile and groundbreaking underground music scene of the Southeast in the early 80's, Charlie Pickett and the Eggs were all motorcycle boots and sneers, and rode a squall of throat-grabbing feedback and Stonesy musical middle fingers.

  • Justin Townes Earle

    From Music Row classicism to the storycraft of Greenwich Village-era Dylan to laid back soulful cool, and inspirations as diverse as Townes Van Zandt, Jimmy Reed, Kurt Cobain, The Replacements, Mance Lipscomb, Ray Charles and The Pogues, it's hard to say what JTE does the best.

  • The Yayhoos

    Many Fridays find the Bloodshot staff drinking beer and rocking out. One-hitters may or may not appear. At any rate, the Yayhoos provide the soundtrack. And thanks to the Yayhoos, thankfully, every day is Friday.
  • Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls Bloodshot Records

    Jon Langford

    The revelatory aspect of Jon's prolific body of work is that he's always treated punk rock as folk music and folk music, when it stays true to its roots, can be awful damn punk. Woody Guthrie pissed off as many, if not more, people than Johnny Rotten.

  • Mark Pickerel

    The drummer in seminal grunge faves The Screaming Trees. But he's got the goods to be out front and a voice, alluring and just a little bit sinister, evinces his influences ranging from Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, the Gun Club and Nick Cave.

  • Ryan Adams

    Former singer/guitarist/songwriter for critical darlings Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams really hit his stride with his debut solo recordings on Bloodshot. People tripped over themselves in descriptive reveries.

  • Graham Parker

    GP's got a snotty barroom brawler's rasp and sneer, a soulman's swagger and an ear for indelible pop songcraft.

  • The Silos

    Heralded at their outset by Rolling Stone as "America's Best New Band," the resilient Silos mix punk, roots, rock, and sage art-damaged truth telling. "The astringent twang of The Velvet Underground with the drone of R.E.M"--NY TImes
  • Bobby Bare Jr Bloodshot Records Artist Header

    Bobby Bare Jr.

    With a big-as-the-room persona, an ability to rock the doors off the most jaded of clubs, the heart to hold a room completely still with just his guitar, and a genius for arrangement, Bobby Bare, Jr. and his band of merry makers are one of the most unique bunches around.
  • Bottle Rockets Artist Header 2

    The Bottle Rockets

    Punk-rock pedigrees and arena-rock energy, tougher-than-Springsteen storytelling and their romantic hearts sewn to their denim sleeves. The Bottle Rockets are true folk music, albeit it with beards, biker wallets and a lot more muscle.
  • Cory Branan Bloodshot Records

    Cory Branan

    Throughout his career, Cory Branan has been too punk for country, too country for punk, too Memphis for Nashville, and probably a little too Cory Branan for anyone’s damn good.