Concert Review: Carrie Rodriguez and Alejandro Escovedo at the Bluebird Theater, Denver, September 19, 2008
Carrie Rodriguez came to play September 19 at the Bluebird Theater in Denver. And play she did. In fact, if there was a Most Valuable Player on this night, Rodriguez was the clear winner.
Rodriguez, the versatile performer of alt-country/folk/Americana who grew up in Austin, Texas, not only opened the show for master showman Alejandro Escovedo, but also played fiddle and contributed background vocals for the entire set with the accomplished-yet-under-the-radar-headliner. Talk about a team player who goes the distance.
And she excelled throughout the night on all levels. Wearing an alluring black dress, with matching high heels and her jet black hair in tight curls accentuated by a white silk flower, Rodriguez looked more like a glamorous chanteuse than a bow-waving rocker.
Touring throughout the fall with Back Porch Records teammate Escovedo to promote her second solo release, She Ain’t Me, Rodriguez mixed it up during her 10-song, 45-minute set, switching from Mandobird to acoustic guitar to her trademark fiddle, where she definitely is on top of her game.
As she hit the stage at 8 sharp, with only about 60 people in the slow-arriving Friday night crowd, a demure Rodriguez remarked how quiet it was in the theater, but guaranteed it wouldn’t stay that way for long. With a backing band that included Hans Holzen on electric guitar and Kyle Kegerreis on upright bass, Rodriguez backed that up with a lively performance, playing five songs from She Ain’t Me, including a Latin-flavored version of the title track.
Among the other highlights in her set: Holzen’s blazing guitar work that brought a broad smile to Rodriguez’s pretty face on “50’s French Movie”; a cover of Dirk Powell’s “Waterbound,” a song Rodriguez said she had to make in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005; and Rodriguez’s fiddling fury throughout the crowd-pleasing closer, the Texas hoedown-style “Never Gonna Be Your Bride,” a song she co-wrote with former collaborator Chip Taylor for her debut album, Seven Angels on a Bicycle.
By then, the crowd had swelled in size and applauded appreciatively, with C-Rod & Co. leaving them wanting more.
They got it about 30 minutes later, when Rodriguez returned to the stage with Escovedo and the rest of his powerhouse lineup of musicians.
Escovedo, who’s promoting his ninth solo release, the top-notch Real Animal, was making a triumphant return of his own. The 57-year-old punk pioneer and roots rocker, who in 1992 embarked on a critically acclaimed solo career and survived a scary bout of Hepatitis C in 2003, told the expanding crowd he was glad to be back in Denver after performing at the Democratic National Convention (without Rodriguez) during the last week of August. At the DNC, he wrote a blog and was proud to get his picture taken with former President Jimmy Carter, below.
The Texas-based Escovedo performed effortlessly – even providing some Pete Townshend windmill theatrics – while blending various styles and influences throughout his superb 90-minute set.
It included beautiful instrumental ballads (“Juarez”), straight-ahead rock ‘n’ rollers and tributes to his past.
Among those who received shout-outs were: Iggy Pop and the Stooges (“Real as an Animal”); the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce of The Gun Club (“Sister Lost Soul,” a song off Real Animal performed by Escovedo earlier this month on The Tonight Show); The Clash’s Joe Strummer (“Castanets”), another dearly departed rocker; and glam rock gods Mott the Hoople (“All the Young Dudes” was the first encore and included an assist on guitar from Holzen).
Rodriguez was in the middle of it all, kicking up her right leg while tearing through “Everybody Loves Me” with guitarist David Pulkingham, sounding like the classically trained violinist she is in accompanying an acoustic guitar on the lovely “Rosalie,” then on the rough-and tumble “I Was Drunk,” and more than holding her own amid the thunderous bass lines and pounding drumbeats of the hard-rocking “Chelsea Hotel ’78.”
Her influence was even felt on “Castanets” a rollicking, hook-filled number (off Escovedo’s 2001 A Man Under the Influence) that achieved some notoriety of its own when it appeared on George Dubya’s top 10 iPod playlist alongside more predictable offerings such as The Knack’s “My Sharona” and Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.”
When news of that reached Escovedo, he banned “Castanets” from his concert set list for a couple of years in opposition to the Bush administration. “What sort of bad karma is that for that to happen to me,” Escovedo said.
But now that Bush is on his way out, Escovedo announced to the cheering throng, the number is back in. However, the end of the Bush presidency isn’t all good news, according to Escovedo.
“That means he’s coming back to Texas, where I live,” Escovedo said. “Me and (longtime drummer) Hector (Munoz) will have to build a wall around Texas (to keep him out). It’s our version of Chicano Homeland Security.”
“Beast of Burden” closed the show and Escovedo left the crowd delirious. And Rodriguez, sipping a Heineken while signing autographs and greeting loyal fans and new admirers, proved she plays to win.
This multi-talented up-and-comer has the chance to remain in this league for a very long time.
By Michael Bialas - Blogcritics Magazine, 9/23/08