BeatRoute Magazine Alberta print e-edition - Feb. 2016

BLOCK HEATER
ALEJANDRO ESCAVEDO
iconic musician jokes about being a rock star
by Liam Prost
JENN GRANT
East Coast musician wants to keep summer alive
Jenn Grant, a folk artist with a newfound
interest in psychedelia, borrows sounds
from a huge array of genres and bathes
them in her rich and serene voice. Her musical
influences are a bountiful mesh of classic
and contemporary, including Jenny Lewis,
Lou Reed, Radiohead and Father John Misty
(who she embarrassingly met in the hallway
of a hotel wearing only a towel).
Beyond music, Grant is an environmentalist
and an advocate for the outdoors.
This holistic approach to life mirrors what
is perhaps the most interesting thing about
her sound: a penchant for instrumental
experimentation. While drums and bass
grooves strongly root her arrangements,
the use of congas, harp, flute, horns, guitars
and violin create a complex yet balanced
sound. Layered vocal harmony from Grant
herself as well as a strong lineup of guest
musicians strengthens the narrative of the
album. Strong imagery transforms the music
into a story worth listening to. Her most
recent album, Compostela, is a soothing
adventure from start to finish; listening to
it is like relaxing on a boat as you are kindly
rocked back and forth slowly by the ocean
waves.
It was conceived as a tribute to her
mother after she passed away. After a trip
to Spain, the landscapes and scenes that inspired
Grant came to life in the album. The
by Robyn Welsh
title comes from a Spanish word meaning
“field of stars,” representing a journey—
which is exactly what the album proved
to be for Grant. Though it is quite warm
sounding, it deals with themes of traveling
through sadness and loss with hints of
hope and happiness.
At Calgary Folk Fest this past summer
she was able to reconnect with friends
and fellow musicians. After experiencing
firsthand the summer music festival vibes,
Grant believes that, “as Canadians, we need
to really encourage people to get out and
see live music in the winter and not just
on beautiful summer nights.” Block Heater
aims to provide Calgarians with a music
experience akin to that of a summer music
festival. This is partly achieved through a
workshop style collaborative format. Grant
says she is looking forward to performing
alongside Catherine MacLellan, a friend she
met in Halifax after MacLellan ended up
moving into the same neighbourhood. The
two quickly became friends and have collaborated
many times in the past. Though
they have not discussed it yet, there is the
possibility that the two will make magic
happen when they meet again this month.
Catch Jenn Grant’s performance at the
Ironwood Stage and Grill on February 12th as
part of Block Heater.
Disclosure: Roots editor Liam Prost is a Calgary Folk
Festival employee.
There are two kinds of people who name their
band The Rock Stars. The first would be a Noel
Gallagher type, for whom the term tidily pads
their ego. The other kind are typified by the two
folks who actually did it. One of those two is roots
rock legend Alejandro Escovedo. It’s remarkable
that Escovedo can fit so effortlessly into the musical
canon while still retaining enormously reverent to
those around him. In talking to BeatRoute, Escovedo
spoke of the songs he started learning as a teenager
as if he had never started writing his own songs.
Escovedo came of age in a grand musical atmosphere,
breathing in the music of Lou Reed, Roxy Music, and
John Cale, and exhaling his own contributions back,
barely noticing his own input. Over the course of our
interview, Escovedo never stopped namedropping
musicians, but always with a clear sense that it was for
the sake of their credit and not his own credibility. He
even references meeting Iggy Pop and fondly recounts
watching him hit on his girlfriend. This reverence also
extends to the musicians who play in and around his
own material: musicians like Jennifer Warnes, who
recently helped facilitate a Leonard Cohen project
with Escovedo, and herself recorded a Leonard Cohen
tribute record, Famous Blue Raincoat (1987). These
types of projects are second nature to Escovedo, but
he is careful to shy away from the term “tribute.” “It’s
more of an homage,” Escovedo argues. These types of
shows are not about using the name recognition of an
established artist to sell tickets, but to highlight the
music and the songwriting. Having recently relocated
to Dallas from Austin, Escovedo is perhaps less
familiar with a Calgary winter than he is David Bowie’s
discography, but he has a profound connection to
the city. Escovedo’s performance comes on the wake
of One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo,
of which Escovedo had a piece featured a few years
ago entitled By The Hand of the Father. The piece is
a daring exploration of a Mexican immigrant family,
intercut with a series of songs about Escovedo’s own
family life. In our interview, Escovedo laments the
loss of One Yellow Rabbit curator Michael Green,
who was killed in a traffic collision last winter, but
looks forward to a reunion with his Calgary collaborators.
Alejandro Escovedo is one step away from
being considered a musical legend, having played
with almost everyone a musician might dream of
playing with. Even now he is working on new material
with REM guitarist Pete Buck. It takes a truly modest
musician to share the stage with Bruce Springsteen
and still consider adopting the name ‘Rock Star’ to be
a “joke,” a man so in love with the music industry, he
has become totally oblivious to his own remarkable
contribution to it.
Alejandro Escovedo performs at the Lantern Church
February 12th as part of Block Heater.
40 | FEBRUARY 2016 • BEATROUTE ROOTS