BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:155631@kingstonhappenings.org DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260306T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260306T200000 DTSTAMP:20260302T195444Z URL:https://kingstonhappenings.org/events/alejandro-escovedo-3/ SUMMARY:Alejandro Escovedo DESCRIPTION:No one has really ever been able to define themselves and their music like singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo does. His life in music o f all kinds sometimes feels like a swirl through the sky\, where his songs point out all the majesty and mystery of how he sees the world. The sound s he makes take him places that he might not even predict\, but once there \, greatness always follows. It's just the way Escovedo is. It has happene d over and over for decades\, almost like a fateful agreement he has with the cosmos. There is a good chance it cannot be explained\, especially by him.\nMaybe that's because this is a musician who feels magic\, both in hi mself and the world around him\, and is open to the experience of whatever comes his way. It is not always easy\, and can have a high demand on how a person lives. But it is the way that Escovedo is always moving forward.\ nOn this new album\, Alejandro Escovedo has taken a road rarely traveled\, which is totally in keeping with how he has lived his life in music. Echo Dancing is an experiment in how to use the past to shape the future. By r ecording completely new and repurposed versions of songs from his past\, E scovedo actually gets a chance to rewrite his own history. It's also an id ea that pushes growth into the present\, and asks an artist to see themsel ves anew. "I always feel that a well-written song can withstand a lot of a buse\," Escovedo says. It is an area of creativity that the man has always honored. "Turning a past song inside out leads to discovery of new ideas you might not have understood about the song\," he says. "Even lyrical ref urbishing has proven helpful and effective. It's like interpreting your ow n work anew. The songs never seem to be complete. They are always evolving ."\nAnd with those words\, Alejandro Escovedo succinctly explains the new levels of artistic exploration he's undertaken on his new album. It's a un ique adventure into recording new versions of songs from his past\, and ap proaching them as challenges to totally express what the music means to hi m today. Songs like "Bury Me" and "Castañuelas\," while they were powerfu l in their original form several years ago\, now announce themselves as hi ghlights of Escovedo's long career. They speak to an eternal world that li ves inside so much of his music\, like it was formed in a way that cannot age. There is something very permanent in the career of the Texas-born art ist\, an inner flame that is always there. It feels like it is a part of m usical history that is rarely captured at such peak performance\, let alon e reappears with a new life. If the life of an artist is always to push ah ead\, to leave what was done alone in favor of contemporary creations\, th en Escovedo's basic concept of Echo Dancing is a revolutionary concept of high beliefs. That the past can live again as a reborn entity.\n"I was pla nning this record just prior to boarding a plane to Italy to record with D on Antonio and Nicola Peruch\," Escovedo says. "My original idea was to re cord an album of new material. But then I changed my mind and thought that revisiting songs from my various past albums throughout my career would b e more interesting. I have a great faith in these two artists to always cr eate something interesting with whatever I might bring to the session. The se songs were already dressed for the dance."\nEverything on Echo Dancing has a feeling of absolute freshness about it\, and at the same time\, ther e is a strong link to the past. It's almost like reincarnation in the reco rding studio\, but everything seems brand new. All the musicians are dedic ated to finding the new amongst the songs' prior history. It is not someth ing that happens often\, and it surely has never occurred quite like it do es on this fascinating new collection.\nAlejandro Escovedo knew that an ex perience like the one he was embarking on needed all the freshness he coul d find\, and off he went to Italy. Sometimes there are now choices in how to approach a new vision. It simply has to be started with total dedicatio n. "I find that recording in a foreign country opens the creative eye in a way that working at home lacks\," he says. And the way the experiment wor ks was proof that today's approach to these songs has a rock-solid beauty to it. A new sonic world has opened. "Surprises were a daily occurance\," the musician says\, "and we embraced them with exuberance. Is it the begin ning or the end? I feel there have always been certain songs on my albums that have guided me to new approaches in my music. That is really the goal of recording. To keep moving forward no matter what it takes. That's why I continue to work on new ways to tell these stories."\nTruer words were n ever spoken than Alejandro Escovedo's love for exploration in the music he writes and plays. The son of a Mexican immigrant and a Texas native\, the sounds that Escovedo first discovered and then performed morphed into all kinds of exciting styles of his life. A member of the first-wave punk roc k group The Nuns in San Francisco\, he moved to New York and joined the Ju dy Nylon band and experienced the total electricity of the late 1970s ther e. Moving then to Austin was a radical shift of geography and musical styl e when Escovedo helped form one of the country's first so-called Cowpunk a dventurers. It often seems like the man has been on a pirate-like adventur e through the kinds of music he is drawn to. Those sounds are usually new and often have a strong edge of the avant-garde in them.\nDeeply embedded in the burgeoning Austin scene in the 1980s\, Escovedo was a prime archite ct in the new band True Believers\, which included his brother Javier and Jon Dee Graham. In many ways the band helped build the gateway to the whol e burgeoning Americana music scene which prospers to this day\, but it was also the turning point for Alejandro Escovedo to take his life in his con trol and record solo albums. In the thirty-plus years since that decision has come a wild roller-coaster ride of groups\, spinoffs\, tribute albums and even original dramatic projects and experiments. In 1998\, No Depressi on Magazine named him Artist of the Decade. For this musician\, though\, t hat was just the start of a life that twists and turns wherever Escovedo's clearly uninhibited imagination takes him.\nThe 21st century has been a t ime of widely successful excursions that only a few American musicians are able to create. Between adventurous solo albums\, continuing collaboratio ns with other musicians\, and an ever-growing sense of boundary-breaking\, Alejandro Escovedo has created his own definition of what a modern rock a rtist can accomplish. Which is exactly why Echo Dancing comes at the perfe ct time for this man. While it does seem Escovedo has his own category of accomplishments\, to now bring together these songs he has previously reco rded and inject such exciting new and different life into them is a comple te exoneration of his belief in the future.\n"I said goodbye to certain ph ases of my life as I have grown\," the musician says. "I greeted new acqua intances musically. And I was extremely surprised by the outcome. That is the thrill of being alive. I feel we have now made a beautiful collection of songs recorded in an effortless vibe of collaboration and camaraderie. I can't give Nicola and Antonio enough credit and thanks for their musicia nship and wide-open approach to making this album. And I should also menti on Ivano Giovedi\, who incredibly engineered the recordings. He did an ama zing job."\n"Everyone involved has guided me to new approaches to my music \, like other musicians have my whole life. I have always worked hard to d iscover new ways to tell the story. I've never hidden my love for Brian En o\, Roxy Music\, Judy Nylon\, Cluster\, along with the Stooges\, New York Dolls\, MC5\, Roky Erickson\, Lightnin' Hopkins\, Joe Ely\, Terry Allen\; you get the picture. There is always more work to be done and joy to be ma de. I am nowhere near finished."\nEcho Dancing makes sure Alejandro Escove do's evolving circle remains unbroken. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://kingstonhappenings.org/wp-content/upload s/2026/03/617649376_1330068992497298_4659171202300920842_n.jpg CATEGORIES:@Featured,@Newsletter LOCATION:Levon Helm Studios(aka The Barn)\, 160 Plochmann Lane\, Woodstock\ , NY\, 12498\, United States GEO:42.0481861;-74.09931949999998 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=160 Plochmann Lane\, Woodst ock\, NY\, 12498\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Levon Helm Stu dios(aka The Barn):geo:42.0481861,-74.09931949999998 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR