Salvation in the Streets

The good stuff is out there.  You’ve gotta dig past the Rolling Stone covers donning Lady Gaga and the headlines about Miley Cyrus, claiming she’s ‘all grown up now’, while donning a costume that makes her look like the proprietor of a S&M aviary.    The good stuff is, likely, going unplayed on the radio, and your local Best Buy employee will merely stare blankly into your eyes when you ask for it.  ”Alejandro Escovedo?” he’ll repeat after you ask for his latest release.  ”I don’t think he works here.  We got a Alex Escobar, though.”  Just give him a reassuring hug and leave him there with his life size Justin Bieber cardboard cutout, then head to Decatur CD or Wuxtry or even I-Tunes.

The good stuff IS out there. In a summer that boasts very little in the way of new releases that promise to capture the imagination, I’m reveling in three new CDs that have kept me from losing hope in a world where “American Idol” runners-up tour arenas and twelve-string troubadours, toting three chords and the truth in their tattered cases, play to half-full coffeehouses and sell their own homemade CDs in the back of the room.

So, behold –  The Real Deal:

“Street Songs of Love” – Alejandro Escovedo.  If you lived in Austin, TX, you’d know the locals think he belongs on a musical Mt. Rushmore.  Outside of that weird and wonderful town, however, he dwells in that wonderful Zevonian category known as ‘cult favorite’.  He’s opened for the Sex Pistols, fronted for punk/alt-country bands like True Believers, The Nuns, and and Rank and File.  Widespread fame, nonetheless, has still artfully dodged him.

But almost dying of hepatitis a few years ago may have been the best thing that happened to this former punker’s career.  To help him pay his medical bills, a few friends recorded a tribute CD of his music.  Lucinda Williams, Los Lonely Boys, John Cale, Steve Earle, Cowboy Junkies, M. Ward, Vic Chestnut, Son Volt, and others offered up loving versions of his tunes.  People took notice and he dwelled, well, a little less low on the radar.  But it was his one-two punch of “The Boxing Mirror” and “Real Animal” that proved that his near death experience paved the way for a musical resurrection.  ”Street Songs of Love” completes a trilogy of albums about survival, redemption, and regret.   From the Velvet Underground-tinged “This Bed is Getting Crowded” to the tenderhearted “Fall Apart With You”, the new CD is as varied as it is tight, the latter courtesy of Escovedo’s backing band The Sensitive Boys.  Whether playing snug garage band anthems or achingly crooning over a bed of strings, Escovedo finds the sweet spot, the one between your heart and your gut that can release gallons of adrenaline, or bleed out from heartache.

Other standouts include the title track, “Undesired”, an electric version of “Shelling Rain”, and a ramped-up anthem called “Faith”, on which Alejandro shares vocals and guitar licks with a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who has made his living singing about faith, doubt, and hope.  The latter has instilled me with faith for 25 years…and Escovedo gives me faith for the future of the American musical landscape.  ”Street Songs of Love” is this summer’s sonic scripture on which I stand.