Tag: Alejandro Escovedo

Rank and File – Amanda Ruth

I first heard this song by the Everly Brothers in their comeback in the 1980s. It fit their style perfectly. I had assumed they wrote it, but I recently found out that Chip and Tony Kinman wrote it for their band, Rank and File. Two Brothers who started a punk band and then moved to Austin, where they transitioned to country-punk. Another performer who was a member of this band at one time was Alejandro Escovedo.

Rank and File were one of those bands that always felt born a decade too early. When most early 1980s acts were into synths, drum machines, and big production, the Kinman brothers were rewiring country music with punk and some power pop.

Chip and Tony Kinman first made music in the late 1970s with The Dils, a sharp-edged California punk band known for political lyrics, ragged guitars, and a take-no-prisoners attitude. When The Dils ran their course, the Kinmans stepped back and started exploring American roots music. They headed toward warmer tones and harmony.

In 1981, the brothers moved from California to Austin, Texas, a shift that changed everything. Austin was the hub of outlaw country, rockabilly revival, blues bars, and indie experimentation.  The perfect place for musicians who did not fit neatly into one box. They found guitarist Alejandro Escovedo, fresh out of The Nuns, another West Coast punk band. The three of them shared a love for classic country songwriting like Hank Williams, The Burrito Brothers, and the raw honesty of punk.

The band officially formed as Rank and File, a name that reflected their working-class roots and their desire to keep things grounded. They blended Telecaster twang, tight harmonies, and a pinch of punk to keep them honest.

What I love about this song is how free it feels. Listening to it today, you can hear the origins of what would become Uncle Tupelo, The Jayhawks, Old 97s, and the whole alt-country wave that swept in during the 90s. Rank and File never got the widespread attention they deserved, but Amanda Ruth remains a cool little gem.

This song was on their debut album Sundown, released in 1982.

Tony Kinman – “We’re brave, we’re not afraid to do stuff, most people are. They’re deathly afraid to do anything different. … [W]hen everybody else was talking about how stupid country music was, country music was the last thing to like, if you wore a cowboy hat you were a redneck, you know, we decided go say, ‘Yeah, we play country music, it’s fun.’

“Up in San Francisco, KUSF Wave, their magazine, did the first review Rank and File ever got, live review. They said we sucked, and then they said, ‘What are these guys trying to do, start a trend?’ Well, that’s the way it worked out, but only because we were brave enough and smart enough to do it first. That’s how you get to be influential—if you’re brave enough to do something different and you’re smart enough to do it right. Otherwise you’re just another dumb-ass band.”

Amanda Ruth

Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth

We read the paper and we pick the show,
I’d meet her there but my watch was slow
She came early and I came late
We never met
It was a hell of a date

Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth

The way we met, she was a friend of a friend,
They needed money and I had it to lend
She had five; she wanted ten.
I gave her all my money
So I got none to spend

Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth

She burns her biscuits and her gravy is strange,
Can’t fry a chicken in a microwave range.
Her salt’s tasty, her sugar’s sweet
No she can’t cook
But she’s got something to eat

Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth
Amanda, Amanda Ruth

…

Buick MacKane – End

A few weeks ago I covered an artist named Alejandro Escovedo, a Texas singer-songwriter who has been around since the early seventies. I’ve recently listened to the album The Pawn Shop Years and it’s fantastic. The band was named after the T. Rex song Buick MacKane and I see the similarities.

They formed in 1989 and began recording songs for the album that would be released in 1997. They mostly played around Austin and they were a mix between garage and glam rock…and it sounds great. Escovedo had just broken up with his band The True Believers when all of this happened. They were popular in Austin and they had some trouble with people accepting Buick MacKane because they thought it would be The True Believers part two.

If you want to hear a 1990s rock album that sounds like the early seventies…this is the one. Instead of checking out a few songs…check out the album. I’ve posted two songs by them to give you a hint. These guys are not going to give you lush ballads…every song is turned up to 11. They use feedback in many of the songs and it’s so refreshing to hear that. I missed these guys in the 90s but…better late than never.

My only disappointment with this band is that they didn’t make any more albums. I’ve never messed with Spotify much but I thought I would post a link to their album at the bottom.

Rick Reger, Chicago Tribune: “A part-time project recorded over three years by musicians who passionately care about the fact that they’re having a great time in the process, ‘The Pawn Shop Years’ comes, conquers and destroys with far more devastating effect than many a self-important hard rock band purporting to do this for a living.”

Sorry…I could not find the lyrics.

Alejandro Escovedo – Always A Friend

But if I do you wrong, smoke my smoke, drink my wine
Bury my snake skin boots somewhere I’ll never find

CB took a break from fishing and posted a song on Friday by Alejandro Escovedo. He sounded fantastic along with his band, featuring some great players like Peter Buck on guitar. I had never heard of Alejandro Escovedo but immediately liked what I heard. I started to go through his discography and I hit this song. He has a lot of good songs and needs to be heard.

I’ve found this world of Texas musicians and songwriters with some like Steve Earle, Joe Ely, Townes Van Zant, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, and now I add Alejandro Escovedo to that growing list. These guys are some of the best singer-songwriters ever but only a few are well known. Escovedo combines power with excellent writing. Many times both don’t go together but when I heard some of his live performances you get the raw rock but with intelligent writing.

He was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1951, one of 12 children. His family was deep in music with his father playing in mariachi bands and swing combos before and after he migrated from Mexico. Later, Alejandro moved to California and saw acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, the Doors, the Seeds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. After that, he started to get into bands such as the New York Dolls and Stooges. Those two bands were a big influence on him.

Here is a very brief musical history. He began his musical career as a guitarist with the punk band The Nuns, in 1975. He then played with Judy Nylon in 1980 and cofounded Rank and File, in 1981. He left Rank and File and began True Believers with his brother Javier in 1982. The True Believers disbanded in 1987 and after that, he performed with The Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra, the Setters, and Buick MacKane. In 1992 he released his first album Gravity. Since then he has released 17 albums including La Cruzada in 2021.

Alejandro didn’t know it but Bruce Springsteen was a fan of his work. On April 14, 2008, Bruce was in Houston, Texas touring and he wanted Alejandro to come up with him on stage. Bruce loved this song as it was the lead single off of Escovedo’s album Real Animal released in 2008. The E Street Band learned it that day just so Bruce could play with Alejandro.

Alejandro Escovedo on being called up to sing with Bruce. “We were two hours out! I get there late, of course, like an hour before the show, He takes me to the dressing room, he has all the lyrics written out, he’s already run the band through it at sound check, and he and I sing it alone in the dressing room together.”

“And then I go out and see my first Bruce show, which just chopped my head off. It was unbelievable. I had never realized the magnitude and power. I was like, oh my God, I forgot how big rock ‘n’ roll could be.”

Alejandro Escovedo: “Those four minutes on stage with Bruce were more important than the 33 years I’ve been playing music. It just changed my life. It was like being blessed by the Dalai Lama. Suddenly all those years of working really hard and struggling, someone said, ‘You’re alright. You’re good at what you do. You deserve to be up here.’” 

Always A Friend

Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Do you wanna be my friend?
Do you wanna be my friend?

Every once in a while honey let your love show
Every once in a while honey let yourself go
Nobody gets hurt no, nah
Nobody gets hurt

We came here as two, we laid down as one
I don’t care if I’m not your only one
What I see in you, you see in me

But if I do you wrong, smoke my smoke, drink my wine
Bury my snake skin boots somewhere I’ll never find
Still be your lover baby, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Do you wanna be my friend?
Do you wanna be my friend?

Every once in a while honey let yourself go
Every once in a while honey let your love show
Nobody gets hurt no, no
Nobody gets hurt

Well, I could be an astronaut on the wrong side of the moon
Or wrapped up like a baby on a bus under you
Wherever I go you go with me

But if I do you wrong, take the master suite, I’ll take the floor
Sleep in late, get your rest, I’ll catch up on mine
Still be your lover, baby, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Every once in a while honey let your love show
Every once in a while honey let yourself go, yeah
Nobody gets hurt, it’s only love, love, love
Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

…