Alejandro Escovedo: The resilience of a Chicano rocker http://nbclatino.tumblr.com/post/231210 ... ano-rocker “I can take a punch, I can take a swing…Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” sings award-winning Alejandro Escovedo on “Man of the World,” the opening track of his new album
Big Station. From his near-death battle with Hepatitis-C to making a name for himself in American rock as a Latino, he has proved his resilience physically and personally.
The 61-year-old who sings as all-American as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Willie Nelson blended into one, has been making music for nearly four decades. The Texan father of seven, and now grandfather, is still rocking as hard as when he started playing music at 24. His 11th solo album will release on June 5 on Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group.
“If you do something long enough, it becomes one with you,” says Escovedo, who never ceases to find inspiration for his music in his experiences. “That’s a great place to be.”
In 2003, Escovedo, who had been struggling with Hepatitis-C for years, was told he wouldn’t survive. He says he felt very weak and didn’t even have the strength to get the mail. He wasn’t even able to spend time with his family - what he calls the most vital things in his life.
“You begin to question who you really are and why you are here,” says Escovedo about one of the most challenging times of his life. “The Buddhists believe everyone should have a near death experience to value life. It did work for me…It changed everything for the better. It influenced my music.”
He says it was in 2005 when he finally got back on the road again. He still has the disease, but he’s learned to maintain it.
“I have a six-month tour coming up, I better be in shape,” says Escovedo who tries to run and swim on his free time to take care of his body and mind. “Playing music is always good for the soul, so I try to do that as much as possible.”
He says the little things like hearing the birds, seeing the sunrise, hearing the person’s voice that you love and simply walking over to his guitar when he wakes up, all inspire him to be a better person and musician.
It wasn’t always sunshine and birds singing. From early on in his musical career, he says he often encountered feelings of racism.
“I’ve been to gigs that they wanted me to work in the kitchen,” he says. “I was placed in every category but rock-n-roll. I was in salsa, Mexican music, everywhere but rock-n-roll. With a name like mine, it’s always that struggle where you’re proud of your culture, but you don’t want to be dominated by it. I want to be an independent man inside that culture.”
He says he doesn’t know if those feelings have changed that much over the years.
“People are always asking me why am I not more famous,” he says. “When you are a stranger in your own land, it’s a tough place.”
He says in his long history, he’s played for primarily white audiences, but he’s had trouble fitting into any particular crowd.
“Because I sing in English, a lot of Chicanos are turned off by it,” says Escovedo. “It’s a tough situation when people don’t know exactly where to place you, but it’s liberating because I don’t have preconceived notions of where I should be. It’s an open palette.”
He says this is new album is the only record where he sings in Spanish.
“‘Sabor a Mi’ is my parents favorite song,” says Escovedo. “It’s a version of it, not traditional - more trip hoppy, loungy.”
Big Station, talks a lot about his two of his greatest loves, the ocean and the place where he considers home - Texas.
“Texas is a wonderful place that is so independent - that beautiful blending of Mexico, southern gospel and blues, Tejano, conjunto - all of those things and the great tradition of Texas is what I love so much,” says Escovedo who considers Flaco Jimenez, George Jones, and Willie Nelson his teachers.
For now, he says his goal is to get his band to be better than ever.
“And then I’ll rest,” says Escovedo. “Life is good.”
