Alejandro Escovedo is a classicist, weaned on punk verities, schooled in American roots music. Now pushing 60, he's making some of the fiercest music of his career. His latest evokes Eighties heartland rock: "Anchor" feels like a long-lost radio hit; Ian Hunter adds scruffed harmony on "Down in the Bowery," and Bruce Springsteen duets on "Faith," a swaggering New York Dolls-ish rocker about rock & roll survival, something the two men know a bit about.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.