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Alejandro Escovedo On World Cafe

Alejandro Escovedo's latest album is <em>Burn Something Beautiful</em>.
Nancy Rankin Escovedo
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Courtesy of the artist
Alejandro Escovedo's latest album is Burn Something Beautiful.

A couple years ago, rock veteran Alejandro Escovedo and his new wife, Nancy, were on their honeymoon on the coast of Mexico when disaster struck and they were sure they were going to die. It was so bad that they even called their family to say goodbye.

In this session, Escovedo tells the story of how they survived and the resulting PTSD, including what he calls "psychedelic seizures." For a while it seemed like that trauma was the end of his career. We talk about how he came out on the other side, with the help of his wife and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, to make his latest album, Burn Something Beautiful. Hear that conversation and his performance in the player above.

Copyright 2017 XPN

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.