Despite two Emmy nominations and a slew of credits, Producer and Musical Director Peter Michael Escovedo tries to stay grounded. He credits his Christian faith — and his family — with instilling that attitude.
It’s no wonder, then, that Peter Michael Escovedo’s upcoming Allstars show is a homecoming show and a return to his roots. Joined on stage by his father, Pete Escovedo, who recently announced his retirement tour, Escovedo is relishing this opportunity to play alongside the legendary percussionist.
“Every time we play I’m just looking at him in a different way to say, ‘Is this the last gig?” said Escovedo.
The Allstars show at Vino Godfather is significant in more ways than one for Escovedo. Returning to Vallejo takes Escovedo back to where he first met his wife, and where her own father worked on Mare Island.
Now living in Los Angeles for film work, Escovedo views these trips to the Bay Area as an opportunity to get the band back together again.
“Every (show) has a different feel to it at this point. When you’re a teenager and younger, you don’t think about that stuff at all,” said Escovedo, recalling his early attitude to family shows. As a 14-year-old playing with his siblings, Escovedo remembers thinking the gigs were fun, you did them and then it was over.
But music was more prominent in his life than just gigs.
It wasn’t uncommon for the family living room to have all the furniture pushed against the wall to accommodate his father’s 16-piece band. Yet even with a band in the center of his home, Escovedo never thought he would be a musician or an artist for a living.
“It just came little by little,” said Escovedo. Gradually, gig followed gig until Escovedo went on his first tour with Vallejo band Con Funk Shun, followed immediately by Marving Gaye and then Lionel Richie.
“Now that we’re all adults and we have our own careers, every time we do get together it is special to all of us,” Escovedo said. “We look at this whole season as something very special because we know it’s not going to last forever.”
Having their separate careers proved to be the secret ingredient for the Escovedo family, making them stronger together. There was no threat of disbanding because they had already forged their own paths.
“We would come back and all of us would be in town at the same time and we would jump right into playing salsa or latin jazz with my father’s band,” said Escovedo. “To come off a Lionel Richie tour, and then two days later play with my father’s band was just so fun.”
“When we were together we were together, when we weren’t we were working somewhere else,” said Escovedo.
The musical arrangements reflect this dynamic, taking on a signature Escovedo family flair that is different from their commercial sound. All the songs in the Allstars show are songs that Escovedo has worked on or with in some capacity, whether he’s played them, recorded or produced them.
“We might do ‘My Cherie Amour’ which we do more as a cha cha. We’re able to arrange these songs a little bit more towards the style we want to do,” said Escovedo, adding that Stevie Wonder has always been his favorite artist.
“And then, something that people wouldn’t think I would do—we’ll probably do ‘Dreams’ by Stevie Nicks,” said Escovedo. “The last time we were at Vino we played that song and everybody was singing along.”
But as much as Escovedo likes being on stage and performing, he prefers process over performance, saying “I enjoy the process and the behind the scenes as much, if not more, than being on stage.”
He hearkens back to his other hobby that he shared with his father when they would paint watercolors. That early artistic endeavor would later translate into his love for film. “Looking through the camera was like looking at a blank canvas,” said Escovedo.
Because of his deep appreciation for the storytelling aspect, Escovedo is not one to be pressured into producing art. That’s partly why his two records are 20 years apart.
“I felt that I didn’t have anything to say until that time,” explained Escovedo. “The second record I did during Covid. I wasn’t writing songs for myself, I was just writing.”
On the film horizon, Escovedo has numerous stories left to tell, some of which can’t be revealed yet. One he can talk about is a film he wrote about the Tenderloin which he will direct in San Francisco. Additionally, David Mickey Evans, who Escovedo refers to as “Mr. Sandlot,” is already locked in to direct a family film similar to “Sandlot” that Escovedo is producing.
“These things come out organically, and it’s nice cause I’m able to do what I want to do and say what I want to say when I want to say it,” said Escovedo.
IF YOU GO:
- WHAT: Peter Michael Escovedo Allstars Show featuring Pete Escovedo
- WHEN: May 18, 2 p.m.
- WHERE: Vino Godfather, 1005 Walnut Ave., Vallejo.
- TICKETS: $45 online, $50 at the door. Online at: ftpresents.com/events/peter-michael-escovedo-allstars/