In the Mix

Somebody called out with a request for "Castanets" at Alejandro Escovedo's show at the World Cafe Live last night, and the Austin, Texas guitarist and songwriter paused before granting it. In a 2005 article in the New York Times, it turns out, it was revealed that the gnarly rocker ("I love her hair in a tangled mess, I like her better when she walks away") can be found on President George W. Bush's iPod. Escovedo quit playing it for just that reason, but on Wednesday, "since he's on the way out," the singer, who was accompanied by violinist Susan Voelz and guitarist David Pulkingham, relented and closed the show with it. After dedicating it to Barack Obama, that is.

Earlier in the encore, Escovedo had delivered a crushingly beautiful version of Warren Zevon's "She's Too Good For Me," and before that, roamed the room with Voelz (pronounced like the '80s Philadelphia band, the Vels) and Pulkingham, to serenade the packed house, mariachi style, with Ian Hunter's "I Wish I Was Your Mother," among others.

He also delved deeply into Real Animal, the terrific, Tony Visconti-produced album he wrote with Chuck Prophet, and which he's been touring behind throughout 2008. The sorrowful "Sister Lost Soul," dedicated to Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Sid Vicious and Bo Diddley, was a highlight, but the whole chamber-rock show was marked by the consistency and intelligence and class that marks everything that Escovedo does. Not as electrifying as his set at the Xponential Music fest in Camden this summer, but every bit as good.