Like millions of Americans, Alejandro Escovedo, dogged seven years now by hepatitis C, has no medical insurance. Yet the master of moody roots chamber music has hundreds of musicians, from legends to locals, throwing benefits to defray his expenses (check www.alejandrofund.com for one that may be happening near you). San Francisco’s ran four hours, to [...]

Shared connections in Central Texas brought these “Four Men From Now” (as they billed their tour) together, and their visit to the North Carolina Triangle’s premier listening room marked the end of a short southeastern US swing. These four songwriters are each very distinct in style and sound, but their combination is all the richer [...]

It’s been said that a song’s power can be tested when it’s sung in a different language. While Joe Henry kept his vocals in English for this performance, it was the music that seemed foreign. Stripped of their usual lush production and instrumentation, his songs certainly stood the test. Backed by Jennifer Condos on bass [...]

For a number of years, the names Graham Parker, Alejandro Escovedo, and Blue Rodeo were at the top of the list of solo artists and bands I’d long admired but had never seen perform. However, since 1997 I’ve caught Parker three times and Escovedo at least a half dozen, but until this calm September night, [...]

“A showman’s life is a smoky bar/The fevered chase of a tiny star/It’s a hotel room and a lonely wife/From what I’ve seen of a showman’s life.” Jesse Winchester wrote “A Showman’s Life” in 1978, but he hasn’t lived much of that life in the 25 years since. The reclusive expatriate singer has tended to [...]

In the wake of Son Volt’s late-1999 split, Jay Farrar worked with artists ranging from Gillian Welch to Superchunk’s Jon Wurster, released two albums and an EP, and played a couple hundred shows across North America and Europe. He wrote songs in slack-key tunings, dabbled with tape manipulation, collaborated with a flutist, and — in [...]

Extraordinary things happen on a regular basis at Red Rocks, and the best results often come from determined opening acts. Guy Clark, playing before Lyle Lovett in June 2002, immediately comes to mind. The most memorable flash of last year’s season, his “Dublin Blues” doubled over with twice the desolation it’s shown on other stages. [...]