Por Vida—A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo

It’s no secret that most tribute albums these days happen because of unfortunate circumstances. The past few years have brought us some of the best ones to date—heartfelt celebrations of Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt and the Bottle Rockets’ nod to Doug Sahm instantly come to mind. I’ve always had bittersweet feelings about these projects when they soak through my headphones—mostly because while rediscovering how great the songs are through another person’s vision, it suddenly hits me that the end had already occurred—that there would not be another tune written by Parsons, Van Zandt, or Sahm; a lonely, sinking feeling indeed.

The good news here is that we still have Alejandro Escovedo. Once named “Artist of the Decade” by No Depression, Escovedo still lives and breathes music, and as this disc shows us, his friends and family have not forgotten about him. The bad news is that Escovedo’s health has failed him; he now suffers from Hepatitis C, unable to continue his rigorous touring schedule that had formed his life and brought joy to our concert schedules.

Hope for his return lies in this album.

Benefiting the Alejandro Escovedo Medical and Living Expense Fund, an all-star cast including Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Los Lonely Boys, Cowboy Junkies, Jayhawks, and a reformed SonVolt has come to the rescue to deliver their interpretations of Escovedo’s soulful art.

The music is something special. Williams lends her husky voice to “Pyrmaid of Tears,” which opens the 2-disc set, while Earle and Los Lonely Boys recklessly rock Escovedo’s thoughts away on “Paradise” and “Castanets.” Cowboy Junkies, featuring a rare backup vocal performance from usually silent Michael Timmins, find their steady groove on “Don’t Need You” and Ruben Ramos finds Escovedo’s heartbreak on “Thirteen Years.”

However, leave it to Escovedo himself to deliver the most vibrant rocker, the previously unreleased “Break This Time.” Although he chimes in at the end of the album, Escovedo once again proves to be the true leader of this project—leaving the listener with a final feeling of life, which is what this tribute album is all about. Let’s hope it is a long time before we listen to this album without being able to conceive Escovedo writing another song.