[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
I was lucky enough

to be at the show
at the Paramount--

[ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO]
Oh thanks. [AUDIENCE
MEMBER] --back in January.

It was absolutely brilliant.

[ESCOVEDO] Thank you.
(audience clapping)

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Absolutely
brilliant. (audience clapping)

And I watched your
development with Don Antonio,

just wondering how
the two of you met.

[ESCOVEDO] I'm sorry?

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] How you
met Don Antonio. [EVAN SMITH]
How did the two of you meet?

[ESCOVEDO] Oh we met, you know,

it was less than two
years ago, actually.

I was gonna tour Europe.

I was given the
choice of three bands

and I chose the Italian band.

They're amazing musicians.

I mean, exquisite musicians.

Also, they were not
trying to sound American.

They were sticking true
to their Italian roots,

and I just felt that the
combination of my songs

and their music was something
that could work very well,

and it did, you know.

So we did,

it's funny because I flew
to Bologna with Nancy,

we got picked up by
Francesco and Antonio,

driven to their
town of Modigliana,

which is this gorgeous little
village of 5,000 people

at the foothills
of the mountains

there in Emilia-Romagna
is the province.

Went to dinner.

In Italy, that's all you do,

is eat, basically, of course.
[SMITH] Eat, right, yep.

(audience laughs)
[ESCOVEDO] It was amazing.

And then we walked a few
blocks to his studio.

We rehearsed two
hours that night.

Right away, I could
tell it was amazing.

The next day, we
rehearsed a full day.

The following day, we got
up at five in the morning,

packed up all our stuff,

drove 10 hours to
Frankfurt, Germany,

played that night and
began a 32-show in 36-day,

10-country tour of Europe.

[SMITH] Just on
the basis of that

first couple days together.
[ESCOVEDO] Yeah, yeah.

[SMTIH] Amazing. [ESCOVEDO]
And we just hit it off.

And right away, the
gigs were amazing,

the people were all walking
away with a smile on their face.

[SMITH] Was it, did you
have any reason to think

going into it that it
would be that good?

[ESCOVEDO] Not really. [SMITH]
It exceeded expectations?

[ESCOVEDO] Not really,
you never know, you know?

But that joint in forces

between Don Antonio and myself

lent itself so much to
the story of the boys in

Salvo and Diego.

And really, it's, you
know, in a large sense,

it is the story of
Antonio and myself.

Because he came to Texas,

his first place in America

that he wanted to
come to was Texas.

Their favorite guitar player
is Jimmy Vaughan, right, so.

(audience laughs)

So they wanted to come
to Texas to see this.

And so his perspective
was really important.

The other thing was
that we drove around

the back roads of Texas
talking to a lot of dreamers.

And interviewing them,

and getting their stories.
[SMITH] Well, in fact,

there's at least one
song that, what was it,

"Texas is My Mother.'
[ESCOVEDO] "Texas is My Mother."

Exactly.
[SMITH] Right, yeah.

[ESCOVEDO] So that's
part of it, you know.

But it was just such
a beautiful thing

to have them as
musicians, and my songs,

and, you know, we're gonna
keep working together.

It's not the end of it, yeah.

[SMITH] That's great.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] It's a
beautiful union to witness,

as a listener. [ESCOVEDO]
Thank you, thanks a lot.

[SMITH] Sir, hi.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hello.

[ESCOVEDO] Hey, how you
doing? [AUDIENCE MEMBER]
It's good to see you

in the daytime, Al.

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah.
(laughing)

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Might
be the second time.

Let's say "The Crossing,"
with the budget aside,

gets turned into a movie.

[SMITH] Right.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Who directs
that, if you could choose?

[ESCOVEDO] I was thinking
that the guy who did Roma.

[SMITH] Cuarón.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Oh okay.

[ESCOVEDO] Or the guy
who did the water film.

[SMITH] The lady who falls
in love with the fish movie--

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[SMITH] Right?

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Of course.
[SMITH] Yeah.

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah, yeah.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Oh nice,
so let's talk about that.

[ESCOVEDO] Those two
directors, I think,

would really
understand the journey.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
Yeah, if you could go,

I know I'm asking two questions,

but if, historically,
anybody could direct it,

would you have--

[ESCOVEDO] Well, Pasolini
would be pretty interesting.

(laughing)

[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
Yeah, thank you.

[SMITH] You do know more about
film than the average person.

(laughing)
I will say, props on that. Sir?

[ESCOVEDO] Welcome
back to Studio 1A.

The last time I saw you
was when you performed here

for the "Austin City Limits."

And one really fond
memory of that taping

was the poster by Chuck Sperry
out of Firehouse Design.

[ESCOVEDO] Oh right.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] And
the poster, of course,

it's the Virgin of Guadalupe,

and it's just this, I think,
one of the most beautiful--

[ESCOVEDO] That was
a gorgeous poster.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] --most
beautiful concert posters ever.

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] And
I asked Chuck Sperry

why Rank and File,

and he said he couldn't do
The Nuns for the t-shirt,

he felt like he was
pushing it a little bit--

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah, yeah.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] --as it was.

But he said he had a long
relationship with your family,

with Sheila E, and
with your family.

Could you comment on
that a little bit, or--

[ESCOVEDO] I'm sorry. [AUDIENCE
MEMBER] Could you comment

on the relationship between,

[ESCOVEDO] With Chuck?

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yeah.

[ESCOVEDO] Well, I met Chuck
a long time ago, you know,

in Portland, I think it was.

I think that's where we met.

But he's been making
such wonderful posters,

and especially that poster.

I know he worked with my
brothers on some posters

and maybe album
design or something,

and Sheila and everybody.

So he's kind of part of
the family, you know.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yeah.
[ESCOVEDO] That we go to him

for artwork.

Beautiful poster, it's
one of my favorite

that we've ever had.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
Mine too, thank you.

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah,
thank you, good.

[SMITH] Anything else for Al?

Sure, okay, of course.

Steve, how's our time,
seven, okay, get the camera.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] You
have such a huge family,

how often do you get together

with your brothers and sisters?

[ESCOVEDO] Well, not that
often because we're--

[SMITH] How many
of you are left?

Coke passed away a while ago.

[ESCOVEDO] Well,
Coke passed away,

Phillip passed away, my
sister, Alice, passed away,

my brother Phillip passed away.

So, we don't, you know,
since everyone's a musician,

we don't get to see
each other that often.

[SMITH] But wasn't
there some kind of a

reunion where you all,

how many Escovedos can we
get on stage to play music?

[ESCOVEDO] Oh that was, my
brother was making a record

my brother Pete, and he
invited all the Escovedos

to come and play, who
played in the family.

This is nephews, nieces,
cousins, all that kinda,

there was over 50
musicians in the studio.

(audience laughing)

[SMITH] So great.

[ESCOVEDO] It was so funny,
I'll tell you funny story.

So there was like the guitar
players were in a section.

And they were filming
it for a video

and Sheila and Pete's
family was always like,

you know, we'd always have
talent shows at Christmas,

and they were like The
Jackson 5 or something.

It was embarrassing
to go out after them,

'cause like, you know.
(audience laughs)

Some Mango, I would try

to do some Mango Kingz
song or something,

you know, and it
just didn't fly.

[SMITH] Sheila may be
the best pure musician

of the entire family, right?

[ESCOVEDO] Unbelievable.
[SMITH] I mean, amazing.

[ESCOVEDO] Unbelievable.
[SMITH] Right.

[ESCOVEDO] And so
they had everyone,

and so Sheila and
everyone's dancing,

and some of the kids
are hip-hop kids,

they're all there dancing.

So the guitar players are
just kinda standing around.

Guitar players don't
dance very well, you know.

(audience laughs)

So we said, well can you show
us a step or two, you know,

to do while you
guys are filming?

And they showed us a simple
little step, you know.

And then they started
rolling the film,

they had to stop and they go,

guitar players,
please don't move.

(audience laughs)

And they walked over
to me and they go,

could I see your birth
certificate, I wanna make--

[SMITH] Are you
actually an Escovedo?

(audience laughs)

[SMITH] (laughs) I love that.

That's great. So what's
Sheila doing now?

[ESCOVEDO] Well, she just
worked with Gary Clark Jr.

[SMITH] She did,
that's exactly right.

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah.
[SMITH] That's right.

[ESCOVEDO] And I just
talked to her recently,

they've been touring
a lot, on her own.

[SMITH] So will she
do, Gary Clark Jr's

about to be on
Saturday Night Live.

Blackstock, right?

Is she gonna perform with,

will she perform?
[ESCOVEDO] I have no idea.

[SMITH] I remember when she
was on Saturday Night Live

a million years ago
and Chevy Chase joked

that the E in Sheila E
stood for Eisenberg, right?

(laughing)

[ESCOVEDO] That's too funny.

[SMITH] I have this
very clear memory,

Sheila Eisenberg.

Okay, go ahead.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hi, my
first recollection of you,

other than working
around Waterloo,

when I used to go in,

was a Chronicle party at Laguna
Gloria in '92 for "Gravity."

[ESCOVEDO] For "Gravity?"

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] For "Gravity,"
right. When it came out.

You played a party the
Chronicle at the Laguna Gloria.

[ESCOVEDO] Oh right.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yeah.

[ESCOVEDO] That was
a beautiful party.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] It
was, yeah. [ESCOVEDO]
I remember that. Yeah.

A few people have
come up to me recently

and said they remember that.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
'Cause you played right

on the little patio

with the big wind chimes
overhang (laughs).

[ESCOVEDO] Yeah, it was
gorgeous, I remember that.

[AUDIENCE MEMBER] But my
question is, is during,

when your treatments
were going on,

was there a particular
artist or song or album

that you used to play
that would help you

get along through it?

[ESCOVEDO] Oh well, you
know, I love Mott the Hoople,

and I love Ian Hunter, and
I remember when, you know,

whenever I was going
through some hard times

it was always like
Mott or Bowie.

And, you know, it's funny
'cause I remember songs,

like I remember The Everly
Brothers' song "Dream,"

right, you know?
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yep.

[ESCOVEDO] Or Roy
Orbison's voice.

They would always console me.

"In My Room" was the song,

I don't know how many
times I played it.

And then, you know,

so those kind of songs
always lent themselves

to what I became as a
songwriter, I think,

because the greatest
gift of a songwriter,

or maybe any artist,

is when someone comes
up to you and says,

you know, this music,

this song helped me through
some very difficult times,

and I want to
thank you for that.

And so to have that ability
without being aware,

I try never to, I think
it's creative death

when you start to pat yourself
on the back for anything.

And I think you always have
to be kind of unsure, almost,

about what you're doing, so
that you're still searching.

And I'm still in that place,
because getting this award,

you know, I asked
Louis several times,

are you sure that
this is for me?

(audience laughing)

I don't think this
is meant for me, no.

[SMITH] Yeah, I think we
all know the answer to that.

(laughing)

It is for you.

All right, let's
stop right there.

Please give Al a big hand.

Thank him for being here,

thank you all for being here.
[ESCOVEDO] Thank you.

[SMITH] We'll see you again.

[ESCOVEDO] Thanks again.

[SMITH] My pleasure,
you're welcome.

[ESCOVEDO] Thank you very much.

(audience clapping)