PHOTO: NANCY RANKIN ESCOVEDO | Alejandro Escovedo has played with a lot of different outfits over the years, from raging punk bands to Americana outfits to classical ensembles. One of the more unusual pairings may have been the rural Italian group with whom he cut his last album, The Crossing (with whom he’ll reunite for an album of new versions of old songs before recording some new things next year).
For now, ever the troubadour, Escovedo has been touring in a trio that’s given some muscle and versatility to whatever he selects from what he called “14 or something albums.” For the tour that brought him to The Hamilton in DC, Escovedo was flanked by able Houston drummer Mike Henne and Denton, Texas, keyboardist Scott Danbom. Together they brought a full backing to Escovedo’s electric guitar and a voice that was still surprisingly strong and smooth at 72.
The stories behind “The Crossing,” a coming of age tale that somewhat mirrored his own family’s move from Mexico to Texas to California, provided a lot of the dialog. But he also moved back to things like “Sometimes” from 1996’s With These Hands. Whole albums were necessarily skipped in the 13-song set, particularly Real Animal and Street Songs of Love, but the 2001 album A Man Under the Influence provided a kind of framework for the show, starting with “Wave,” the moving song of migration that opened the show; to the love story “Rosalie” that provided an emotional heart late in the show, with its own explanatory intro; to the can’t miss, set-closing rocker “Castanets.”
Danbom, formerly of Centro-matic, and who had also played in Slobberbone and (briefly) Drive-by Truckers, had the responsibilities of a Ray Manzarek—holding down bass on his analog synthesizer while paying electric keyboards, adding a distinctive “96 Tears” vibe to things like “Break This Time.” But Escovedo often stood opposite Henne’s drum set, concentrating on the basic call-and-response of drums to guitar that’s often at the heart of his songbook.
Escovedo knew The Hamilton well enough to realize the attentive room would accommodate the most unusual part of his show, a three song, segment in which he not only played acoustic guitar—with Henne on tambourine and Danbom on fiddle—but also stepped away from the microphones to roam to another part of the stage, leaving the trio wholly unamplified. It lent an even more natural feel to what was already a very human sounding set, though it prompted someone on another side of the room to yell out “Over here!” to coax the traveling musicians his way.
While acoustic they played a quiet “San Antonio Rain,” an even quieter cover, John Prine’s “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” that also came with a story about the late folk singer with whom Escovedo once toured. The show’s other cover was the sole encore, a song from another departed songwriter, Vic Chesnutt (for whom Danbom also once played). “Maiden” had the same kind of soulful, benedictory vibe that made it just right for Escovedo as well.
Opener Diane Gentile, who brings a Buffy Saint-Marie vibe to her solid original songs, brought along Jesse Malin guitarist Derek Cruz for her set. Together, they covered Malin’s “Solitaire” in tribute to the ailing songwriter’s recovery. But when it was time for the song “Walk with Me,” the duet she recorded with Escovedo for her latest album The Bad and the Beautiful, she had to do it minus the headliner.
SETLIST
Wave
Sometimes
Dear Head on the Wall
Break This Time
Teenage Luggage
Sonica USA
San Antonio Rain
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
Something Blue
Rosalie
Sally Was a Cop
Castanets
Maiden
