Ho-hum, another great, great show from Alejandro Escovedo last night. This time around, Al's orchestra includes former Son Volt/Richard Buckner/Freakwater sideman Eric Heywood on pedal steel, the incredible Hector Munoz on drums, and, of course, Joe Eddy on lead guitar, plus bass and cello. No David Pareles on fiddle, unfortunately. Eric definitely gives the band a little more of a country feel, but otherwise, it was classic Al: bare and beautiful one minute, punk and dissonant the next. They played all the originals off the new record, plus a fine, haunting cover of Sex Beat. They played a couple of new songs, and also did the acoustic in-the-middle-of-the- crowd thing (the highlight being Sad & Dreamy -- or The Big 1-0 -- at my request thankyouverymuch) which is always wonderful. Al told some pretty funny stories about past escapades in Cinti and Dayton (before Troy Campbell and co. moved to Austin and became the Loose Diamonds, they were based in Dayton and called the Highwaymen). Beaver was solo and it was cool to hear his songs stripped down. He has a really unique voice and is a great songwriter -- Forget Thinkin' was one of my fave songs of last year. (If you don't have his debut, go directly to Miles of Music and buy it, do not pass go, do not collect $200). I hope to see him with a band next time around. Nice guy too. Beaver is playing solo shows up in Oxford on Friday & Saturday, go check him out if you're in the area. Iris Dement/Stacey Earle this past Sunday, Al & Beaver last night, Prospect Hill & Ass Ponys on Friday, James McMurtry and Los Straitjackets on Saturday, Dick Dale and Holsum on Tuesday, life is good.... Dave *** Dave Purcell, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Northern Ky Roots Music: http://w3.one.net/~newport Twangfest: http://www.twangfest.com
