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<\/p>\nAs musician, singer and songwriter Alejandro Escovedo has long been a keen an incisive observer in the American experience. Through his solo work, collaborations and band projects, he has made compelling music in a wide variety of musical styles, with the unifying quality of thoughtful and thought-provoking lyrics. He\u2019s a storyteller in the grand tradition, one who draws from his influences to create something individual: \u201cI love Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Ian Hunter and David Bowie very much as writers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s never been afraid to be political. But not simply political in a partisan fashion; when he takes a stand, it\u2019s one in line with his deeply-held convictions. He notes that \u201cWave,\u201d a song from his 2001 album A Man Under the Influence<\/i>, is about immigration. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of songs about my father,\u201d he says. \u201cBallad of the Sun and Moon\u201d from 1994\u2019s Thirteen Years<\/i> is a ballad about his father\u2019s border crossing many years ago.<\/p>\n
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In 2000 Escovedo was deeply involved in the creation and staging of a play, By the Hand of the Father<\/i>. The first dramatic work on Austin City Limits<\/i> (an otherwise music-centered program), the play chronicled the cross-border journey of five Mexican men made to the United States.<\/p>\n
That play \u2013 based at least in part upon Escovedo\u2019s own family\u2019s experience \u2013 isn\u2019t purely historical; it moves into more present-day concerns as well. He says it focuses on \u201cus as their children of the \u201860s and on our questions for a lot of the traditions that they brought across the border.\u201d It has a happy ending of sorts. \u201cIn the end, of course, we come to terms with everything they did for us in order to provide us with a life in this country,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to bring that play back now in order to address the immigration problem that\u2019s happening as a result of having a fascist as the President,\u201d Escovedo told me in 2017.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s written about such matters before, too. And in 2005, when it was noted that former president George W. Bush considered Escovedo\u2019s \u201cCastanets\u201d one of his favorite tunes \u2013 it was on his iPod playlist, apparently \u2013 the songwriter made a point of dropping the song from his performances. He wouldn\u2019t resume playing it until Bush\u2019s term was nearly done.<\/p>\n
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At a time when the U.S. has a chief executive who denigrates Mexican immigrants (\u201cThey\u2019re bringing drugs. They\u2019re bringing crime. They\u2019re rapists,\u201d he told an audience while campaigning in June 2015), Escovedo\u2019s latest album tackles the immigrant experience head-on. A collaboration with Don Antonio, The Crossing<\/i> is a fiery yet nuanced suite of songs built around the theme of life in the American West. On songs like \u201cTeenage Luggage,\u201d the modern-day troubadour sings, \u201cAmerica is beautiful \/ America is ill \/ America\u2019s a blood stain in a honky-tonk kill.\u201d Elsewhere he sings, \u201cThe government lies \/ children die.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as somber and gritty as the subject matter is on The Crossing<\/i>, it\u2019s presented in a musical context that draws the listener in. The Crossing<\/i> is in turns elegiac, contemplative, rocking and evocative of a windswept landscape across which desperate families scramble under cover of darkness in search of a better life. Like much of Escovedo\u2019s work, it revels in the many musical styles that inform his musical sensibility: country, Americana, folk, punk and more.<\/p>\n
Listeners who, for reasons of their own, aren\u2019t interested in the themes explored on The Crossing<\/i> will still find plenty to like on the album. \u201cOutlaw for You\u201d is a barbed-wire midtempo rocker that displays Escovedo\u2019s sense of humor. It\u2019s a sexy, slinky, fun tune with beefy horns. In the song, Escovedo sings of danger in the world, but in the end \u2013 right before a guitar solo that hearkens back to rock\u2019s earliest days \u2013 he\u2019s willing to be an outlaw for you. With its combo organ textures, the song offers up hints of Doug Sahm and the Texas Tornadoes, too. On the instrumental \u201cAmor Puro\u201d the songwriter dives deep into his Latino heritage, but because he applies a modern-day sensibility to the arrangement, it comes out with a vaguely exotica feel.<\/p>\n
At a time when persons of compassion are looking for music that speaks to their concerns, The Crossing<\/i> is a welcome balm. For those who just want a good rockin\u2019 time, the album succeeds on that score. In these divisive times, it\u2019s a testament to Alejandro Escovedo\u2019s quality of artistry that he can deliver a collection of songs that speaks to both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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