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Alejandro Escovedo Re-imagines A Man Under The Influence at City Winery

Jim Chapin Photography
Alejandro Escovedo kicked off his current Think About The Link Tour at the Moody Theater in Austin.

 

Texas songwriter and roots rocker Alejandro Escovedo, an Americana Lifetime Achievement Award winner, arrives in Nashville this week with the dual mission of spreading cancer awareness and reviving a landmark album.

Wednesday night, Escovedo will take the stage of the City Winery to perform his 2001 album A Man Under The Influence in its entirety with a band made of most of the album’s original personnel. They include founding figures of the modern southern pop and rock and roll scene, such as Chris Stamey, who produced the album, and guitarist/singer Mitch Easter.

This tour also spotlights Escovedo’s recent move to North Carolina’s Yep Rock Records, where Stamey and Easter have been involved in various ways.

Reached by phone in Chicago, Escovedo says A Man Under The Influence remains one of his proudest achievements.

“For me personally it was a very complete album, probably my most complete record, the record in which all the things I love about making music came together,” he says.

That includes string arrangements that marked a departure from his harder rocking days in punk country bands. He says he wrote the record specifically for and even about his close relationships with his collaborating musicians. It was also the last album he released before being diagnosed with Hepatitis, which he battled for 20 years.

“It has a lot of significance. I think it really captured a place and time, and I don’t think many records do that.”

This week’s show is the 9th of a 12-date run dubbed the Think About The Link tour, in partnership with the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Escovedo is the national spokesman for Think About The Link, which educates about Hepatitis and liver cancer. See a recent PSA below.

The City Winery show is being presented by WMOT.