Por Vida: A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo

Stricken with Hepatitis C in April 2003 and lacking health insurance, Alejandro Escovedo has been the focus of scores of benefit concerts in Austin, Texas, and across the U.S. These 32 songs offer further aid--and a dizzying, daring appraisal of a brilliant, if commercially hard-luck, songwriter. Opening with Lucinda Williams's slurred, Spartan electric groove, the set covers the obscure ("Sacramento & Polk," in a manic paranoid take by Lenny Kaye) and the exquisite (the road-weary ballad "Thirteen Years," in a stately, aching reading by Tejano legend Ruben Ramos). Those familiar with the restless style-shifting of Escovedo's career won't be surprised by the juxtaposition of Ian Hunter's bar-band strut with the Jayhawks' psychedelic wall of delay, or Peter Case's glam garage with Bob Neuwirth's unguarded, accordion-laced sigh. Surprises include a poignant vocal turn from keyboard legend Ian McLagan, a reunited and stunningly revived Son Volt, and Escovedo himself, charging through a new tempo-twisting rocker cut just before he fell ill. There is tangible enthusiasm, even love, in the performances of these wildly diverse admirers. --Roy Kasten