For the first time in his 30 year career, Alejandro Escovedo has charted on Billboard's Top 200 coming in at #122 with his 9th solo album

For the first time in his 30 year career, Alejandro Escovedo has charted on Billboard's Top 200 coming in at #122 with his 9th solo album REAL ANIMAL. Released on June 24th, REAL ANIMAL also enters Billboard's Heatseeker/New Artist Chart at #3 with 6,178 in first week sales. A noted and accomplished artist, Escovedo was named No Depression's "Artist of The Decade" in 1998 and has enjoyed a loyal fan base that includes such luminaries as author Stephen King and filmmaker Jonathan Demme who provided REAL ANIMAL's evocative liner notes.

Currently on the road in support of REAL ANIMAL, Escovedo recently opened for the Dave Matthews Band and had the opportunity to perform the album's first single "Always A Friend" with Bruce Springsteen in front of a sold-out crowd in Houston. Making his first national TV appearance since his highly-acclaimed Austin City Limits performance in 2006, Escovedo kicked off release with a live performance on The Today Show and will appear on Late Night with David Letterman on August 7th.

Already heralded as "a collaborative triumph" by Rolling Stone, REAL ANIMAL has also been dubbed "the finest album of a career already marked by impressive quality" in a 4-star review from USA TODAY and was featured in TIME Magazine's "Five Things You Should Know About".  The 13 original tracks on REAL ANIMAL unravel Escovedo's musical autobiography while presenting him as a masterful American musician, whose palette encompasses eloquent string quintets and shattering blasts of punk rock.

REAL ANIMAL is Escovedo's second release for the EMI-based Manhattan/Back Porch Records and was produced by legendary producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy).

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