*** Alejandro Escovedo

MORE MILES THAN MONEY: LIVE 1994-96

(Bloodshot)

It must be easy to mistake Alejandro Escovedo's stark melancholy for emptiness and thus miss the underlying power of his songs. How else explain the relative obscurity of Austin's hard-luck hero? Despite his long résumé of grace and growl from stints as a punk (Nuns) and cowboy rocker (Rank & File), guitarslinger (True Believers, Buick McKane), and, more recently, a tragic soul-baring songwriter, Escovedo still has more miles than money to his credit.

Recorded live at various mid-'90s tour dates, this CD finds him exorcising life's demons as he dips into his emotional well of numbing pain, lost love, and a rejuvenated heart. A roots-rock chamber grouping of guitars, cello, violin, bass, and drums gives a textural richness to the melancholy undercurrent. The CD bottoms out halfway through with the elegantly despairing "She Doesn't Live Here Anymore," a tune inspired by the suicide of Escovedo's ex-wife. Then spirits rise through a noise-nasty cover of Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" to the howling rebound of a 12-minute medley that finishes with Lou Reed's "Street Hassle." It's an upbeat end to an emotionally draining album.

-- Tristram Lozaw