Lambchop and Alejandro Escovedo play Friday night in Durham, and we've got loads of verbiage about both. See the click-through for more.

Howdy, folks. I'm back from last week's vacation, and still struggling to catch up. While I do that, take a listen to this and peruse a couple of quick items about upcoming live shows:

New to the TWCMPAWC schedule, redneck gal Gretchen Wilson on Sept. 12 -- because, you know, there just haven't been enough country shows out there this year. On-sale details to come.

Also at the same venue is a show billed as 2009 Soul Music Festival on Aug. 29, headlined by the incomparable Erykah Badu. You can expect her to give an onstage shout-out to our own Ninth Wonder, who produced one of Badu's bigger recent hits. On-sale details also to come.

Over at Duke University, meanwhile, the 2009-10 live-concert season schedule is out, with highlights including Punch Brothers, Rosanne Cash, Los Lobos, Alejandro Escovedo and lots more. Check the complete lineup here.

I long ago accepted that few people are as hung up on Alejandro Escovedo as I am. But I have also accepted that one of my ongoing missions in life is to try and get as many other people as possible hung up on him, too. And so I am delighted to report that Escovedo is headed back our way -- he'll play Duke University's Reynolds Industries Theatre on Nov. 13, according to his tour schedule, on a bill with the outstanding space-country ensemble Lambchop.

That's nearly six months away, so you have plenty of time to make plans.

Lynn Blakey always seems to figure into Alejandro Escovedo's shows around here. The Tres Chicas siren has known Escovedo for years, and more often than not she winds up onstage for a star turn when he's in town. Thursday night at Cat's Cradle was no exception, as she joined him as special-guest vocalist for the encore. First came a letter-perfect cover of "All the Young Dudes," which was stunning. But then came the masterstroke, a duet on "Beast of Burden," in which Escovedo preened and strutted while Blakey played the wide-eyed blushing ingenue to perfection as they traded verses, vamps and glances. It was one of the most wonderful and hilarious things I've seen all year.

The rest of the set included most of Escovedo's new album, played in the key of rawk. In contrast to some of his previous orchestrated lineups, Escovedo's current touring band is a stripped-down twin-guitar quartet that offers up major raw power. But the show didn't lack for range. The other big highlight was a four-song acoustic interluded centered around an amazing rearrangement of Escovedo's ballad "I Was Drunk." He mutated the song into a flamenco raveup, with David Pulkingham's guitar bordering on skronk-jazz -- very cool. It went something like this, only more intense.

ADDENDUM: Excellent recap from Peter Blackstock. 

It's been a good year -- a really good year -- for Alejandro Escovedo, with his first-ever Billboard chart appearance and loads of endorsements from famous friends. But there is one lingering bit of awkwardness, over the song "Chip N' Tony" on Escovedo's new album. It's a tribute to the Kinman Brothers, Escovedo's former bandmates in the early-1980s band Rank & File; but the Kinmans are reportedly less than thrilled with the namecheck.

"I've heard various things, and it's hard to know what to believe about what is and isn't true," Escovedo said last week. "I heard they weren't too happy, that I was on their [expletive] list -- which wouldn't surprise me, since I kind of always felt that way ever since we were in a band together. But that's the way it goes with bands, you know? The funny thing is, that song does not slag them at all. It celebrates what we had at the time. I've always felt Rank & File was never fully appreciated. Regardless of our shortcomings as friends, I learned a lot from them about how to be in a band. They're still phenomally great songwriters and singers and musicians, and I've got nothing but respect for them."

For more, see this interview in Tuesday's paper. Also, Escovedo is playing Thursday night at Cat's Cradle. Go.

Fresh from his Democratic National Convention star turn last week, Alejandro Escovedo is getting his tour back into high gear -- including the choice network-television exposure he missed out on last month due to health issues. Escovedo's upcoming itinerary includes next Thursday, Sept. 11, on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,"  which will be a perfect primer for his Oct. 23 show at Cat's Cradle.

Catch both, so I can stop harranguing you.

Earlier this month, it seemed as if Alejandro Escovedo's perpetually rotten luck in career matters was holding true to form when health reasons forced some dates to be canceled -- including what would have been his first-ever performance on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman." But he has landed a pretty great substitute. Tonight, he'll open for Hillary Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, performing his song "People (We're Only Gonna Live So Long)." That's supposed to happen at 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time, and I'm crossing my fingers that at least one cable news channel carries his performance.

Meanwhile, Escovedo is also still scheduled to play Cat's Cradle on Oct. 23.

ADDENDUM (9/10/08): Convention diary.  

Good news: Alejandro Escovedo has appeared on the Cat's Cradle schedule, set for Oct. 23 -- which is great to see, given that he had to cancel some recent dates due to health issues.

Anyway, if you've got a lick of sense, you'll be there.

Click through to see two possible signs of God's existence, plus a bunch more verbiage about one of my all-time favorites.