Pedro Alejandro Escovedo - The Rock Pioneer Shaping American Music

Pedro Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, including punk rock, roots rock, and alternative country, and is closely associated with the music scenes in Austin, Texas, as well as San Francisco and New York. He comes from a musically inclined family. 

Biography

Early Life

As the child of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo hails from a family of professional musicians, including his brothers (and fellow musicians) Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, along with Sheila E. (the daughter of Pete and niece of Alejandro). His brother, Mario, led the hard rock band The Dragons, while another brother, Javier Escovedo, was a member of the punk rock band The Zeros.

Career

Escovedo began performing in his first punk rock band, The Nuns, alongside Jennifer Miro and Jeff Olener, in San Francisco, California. He moved to New York in 1978 and joined the band Judy Nylon. Escovedo lived at the Chelsea Hotel. In the 1980s, he relocated to Austin, Texas, where he embraced a roots rock/alternative country style in the band Rank and File (along with Chip and Tony Kinman) and later formed True Believers (with his brother Javier, Jon Dee Graham, and bassist Denny DeGorio).

Escovedo's first solo albums, Gravity and Thirteen Years, were released in 1992 and 1994, respectively. In 1997, he collaborated with Ryan Adams and the band Whiskeytown on recordings for the album Strangers Almanac. He sang on the tracks "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight," "Dancing with the Women at the Bar," and "Not Home Anymore." Whiskeytown also covered Escovedo's song "The Rain Won't Help You When It's Over" on the reissued deluxe version of Strangers Almanac.

In 1998, No Depression magazine honored him as Artist of the Decade. Escovedo also participated in a side project with Buick MacKane, who released the album The Pawn Shop Years in 1997. In 1999, Escovedo contributed to a tribute album for Skip Spence, one of the founders of Moby Grape. The album, More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album (Birdman Records, 1999), aimed to raise funds to cover Spence's medical bills due to cancer. In More Oar, Escovedo presented a version of Spence's song "Diana." Critic Rob Brunner remarked, "The best contributions come from artists who realize that Spence's work is not just about words and chords but about atmosphere... Alejandro Escovedo delivers a haunting version of 'Diana,' Spence's darkest song."

The album Boxing Mirror was released on May 2, 2006, and included several songs that he promoted alongside the Alejandro Escovedo String Quintet. Escovedo undertook a short tour with the Quintet, including a performance at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in early December 2006. In April 2008, Escovedo changed management, hiring Jon Landau and Barbara Carr. Later that year, he released Real Animal, produced by Tony Visconti and co-written with Chuck Prophet. In 2009, Escovedo was invited to contribute to a tribute album for Doug Sahm, recording a version of "Too Little Too Late" for Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (Vanguard Records).

In June 2010, Escovedo released Street Songs of Love, also produced by Visconti but released on a new label, featuring songs first presented in "Sessions on South Congress" at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas, with his band, The Sensitive Boys. According to Escovedo, this album “ultimately became an album about different kinds of love, the pursuit of a feeling that is forever elusive, mysterious, and addictive.” A "Critics' Choice" review in the New York Times for Street Songs of Love stated, "In a less fragmented pop era, this would be the album of introspective yet radio-ready love songs that would finally bring Escovedo to the larger national audience he deserves." The album received airplay on radio shows like Little Steven Van Zandt's Underground Garage, continuing to feature the song "Silver Cloud" the following year.

In 2014, Escovedo appeared in thefilm and contributed to the soundtrack of Veronica Mars, singing an acoustic version of "We Used to Be Friends." That same year, he co-produced and co-hosted the SXSW Tribute to Lou Reed alongside Richard Barone. In October 2016, Escovedo released the album Burn Something Beautiful, recorded in April of that year in Portland, Oregon. In January 2017, he undertook a short tour to support the album, featuring several members of The Minus Five: Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Kurt Bloch, and John Moen, all of whom participated in the album. All songs on Burn Something Beautiful were written by Escovedo, McCaughey, and Buck.

Personal Life

In 2003, after years of living with hepatitis C, Escovedo collapsed on stage in Arizona due to complications from the disease. Lacking health insurance, several musicians organized benefit concerts to help cover his medical expenses. They also released the album Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo. All proceeds from this two-disc compilation were directed to the Alejandro Escovedo Medical and Living Expenses Fund. Participating musicians included John Cale, Lucinda Williams, Ian Hunter, Jennifer Warnes, Steve Earle, The Jayhawks, Bob Neuwirth, Son Volt, and Escovedo's brothers, Pete Escovedo and his daughter Sheila E., along with Javier and Mario (as a member of The Dragons).

In 2005, media reports about George W. Bush's iPod playlist included Escovedo's song "Castanets." In response, Escovedo announced that he would no longer perform the song as long as it remained on Bush's iPod or until he left office. After two years, as Bush's presidency neared its end, Escovedo lifted the ban and began performing the song again.

Discography

• Gravity (1992)

• Thirteen Years (1993)

• The End/Losing Your Touch (Maxi, 1994)

• With These Hands (1996)

• More Miles Than Money: Live 1994-1996 (1998)

• Bourbonitis Blues (1999)

• A Man Under the Influence (2001)

• By the Hand of the Father (2002)

• Room of Songs: Recorded live at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, TX on February 28 and March 1, 2005 (2005)

• The Boxing Mirror (2006)

• Real Animal (2008)

• Live Animal: Live EP (2009)

• Street Songs of Love (2010)

• Big Station (2012)

• Burn Something Beautiful (2016)

• The Crossing (2018)

• La Cruzada: Record Store Day version Vinyl (2020) (Re-recording of the 2018 album The Crossing, sung in Spanish with all notes translated into Spanish)

• La Cruzada (2021) (Full CD and Vinyl release)

• Echo Dancing (2024)

Other Contributions

• More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album (Birdman, 1999)

• Hear Music Volume 7: Waking (2002, Hear Music) – "Wave"

• 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin – Broadcasts Vol. 10 (2002) – "Ballad of the Sun & the Moon"

• WYEP Live and Direct: Volume 4 – On Air Performances (2002) – "Rosalie"

• Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (Vanguard, 2009)

• Metro: The Official Bootleg Series, Volume 1 (2010)

• Uncut Starman - A Tribute CD featuring various artists covering 18 songs of David Bowie (Uncut Magazine, 2003) - "All The Young Dudes"

• You Don't Know Me - Rediscovering Eddy Arnold (Plowboy Records, 2013) - "It's A Sin"

• From Death to Texas The task has overwhelmed us, the Jeffrey Lee Pierce sessions project (Gliterhouse Records, 2023)

Awards

• AMA Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance, 2006

• Townes Van Zandt Songwriting Award at the 37th Austin Music Awards, 2019

• A2IM Libera Independent Icon Award, 2020

• Member of the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame, 2021