Interview: Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo’s amazing musical journey has taken him from being a founding member of early San Francisco punk rock band The Nuns, to the cow-punk pioneers Rank and File, to the rockin’ True Believers, to an acclaimed solo career which has explored various sounds and earned him the title Artist of the Decade for the 1990’s from the alt-country publication No Depression. His latest album, Burn Something Beautiful, came out last year, and was a collaboration with Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey from The Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5.

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for Alejandro Escovedo’s concert at the Lobero Theatre on 2/25/17, as part of the Sings Like Hell concert series. (Nancy Rankin Escovedo photo)

Interview: Garland Jeffreys

Garland Jeffreys is an acclaimed singer and songwriter whose songs cover a variety of styles including rock, reggae, and soul. His best-known songs are his 1973 single “Wild in the Streets” and his 1979 U.K. and European hit “Matador”. Notably, Jeffreys was named Best New Artist by Rolling Stone magazine in 1977. Jeffreys’ most recent album, The King of In Between, was released in 2011 and is one of the strongest of his career.

Velvet Underground afficionados will also be interested to know that Jeffreys is a long-time friend of Lou Reed and John Cale, and he played on John Cale’s first solo album Vintage Violence, which included Jeffreys’ song “Fairweather Friend”.

Garland answered the following questions by phone on 11/21/12, the day before Thanksgiving, and also the day before he was flying to Europe for some shows. This was for a preview article for his concert on 12/8/12 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. (Danny Clinch photo)

Interview: Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur

When the Jim Kweskin Jug Band formed in 1963, they breathed new life into the jug band music genre whose heyday had been several decades earlier. In the process, they inspired many bands including the Grateful Dead and the Lovin’ Spoonful, played several times at the Newport Folk Festival, and had a helluva lot of fun.

After the Jim Kweskin Jug Band broke up in the late 1960’s, Muldaur played with Paul Butterfield’s Better Days, and contributed to recordings for a number of notable artists. Both Kweskin and Muldaur have also released various solo albums over the years, and in recent years they have resumed performing together.

The following interviews were done for a preview article for the performance by Kweskin and Muldaur at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on 8/25/12. These interviews were done separately by email, with Muldaur’s reply received on 8/2/12, and Kweskin’s on 8/3/12.