Alejandro Escovedo Rocks the Birchmere

Alejandro Escovedo at the Birchmere, Alexandria, Virginia November 9

Having been impressed just seeing Alejandro Escovedo with a full band at ACL in Austin, Texas in September, it was quite a treat catching him at the Birchmere playing in a trio. Along with Susan Voelz, who played masterfully on violin, and David Pulkingham, equally impressive on guitar, the trio performed songs from Escovedo's long, distinguished career.

Escovedo came to Texas by way of California and his music is an eclectic mix of Latin, punk rock, blues, and folk. The show focused heavily on his 9th studio album, Real Animal, including the soulful "Sister Lost Soul" and the rockin' and catchy "Always a Friend."

For the encore, the trio went unplugged into the crowd to play three songs each in different parts of the room, to give us folks in the back a close-up view of their excellent musicianship. What a wonderful night of music!

Top right: Pulkingham and Escovedo play a song in the crowd.


At right: ClubD (rt.) and ClubDave say hi to
Alejandro Escovedo after the show.