Hey Salt Lake, how about some good old fashioned rock & roll?
Alejandro Escovedo always brings it, perfected over his 40-year career. It’s a path that has brought him from the punk band The Nuns to the front of the alt-country scene—not to mention his work with everyone from Springsteen to Whiskeytown in between.
Escovedo is Mexican-American, but his status as a long-time Texan influences his music more than any other factor. He’s equal parts Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop—with some alt-country attitude mixed in for good measure.
He’s one of those guys that everyone cites as an influence and music insiders all know—case in point, he recently closed out the season for Austin City Limits. Yet, the kind of fame that makes musicians household names has proven elusive.
But, recently Escovedo has found a new lease on life, after surviving an intense battle with hepatitis C and finding love. And he teamed up with Peter Buck (R.E.M.) and Scott McCaughey (The Minus Five) to create his newest album, Burn Something Beautiful. The L.P. is dedicated to immigrants, a political reference to be sure, and not a surprising one from a man who refused to play his song “Castanets” for two years because President George W. Bush had it on his iPod.
Alejandro Escovedo plays The State Room on Monday, Feb. 27. Jesse Malin opens. Tickets available here.
