Alejandro Escovedo, Detroit Cobras, Boca Do Rio -- ASD Live Music Picks for Friday, August 17

Alejandro Escovedo, 9 at Great American Music Hall. $20.
"To the relief of fans worldwide, Escovedo's death-defying bout with hepatitis C is behind him, and his first solo release in four years is at hand. With Velvet Underground vet John Cale in the producer's chair, "The Boxing Mirror" rivals anything Escovedo's ever tracked. The album is a taste of Mexico: "The Ladder" has a dashing bit of romanticism while "Looking for Love" is surprisingly danceable. The first three tunes, "Arizona," "Dearhead on the Wall" and "Notes on Air," amount to an emphatic announcement that Escovedo is back in the groove and evidently none the worse for wear." -- Billboard

Detroit Cobras, 9 at Slim's. $15.
"Tied & True suggests the Cobras have become one of the best cover bands around, with better chops and material than their competitors. To their considerable credit, they see no distinction on this album between blues, rockabilly, country, garage rock, soul, r&b, and girl-group pop, and so are free to mix everything together at will. After leading off with a fiery version of Garnett Mims' "As Long as I Have You", they pick the pockets of Irma Thomas, Bettye Lavette, the Cookies, the Flirtations, and the Equals, to name a few. Despite the pervasive smoking ban afflicting venues across the nation, the Cobras insist that their hard-living influences are timeless and trendless, and their understanding of how audiences first connected with these songs prevents the band from succumbing to joy-killing record-collection rock." -- Pitchfork

Boca Do Rio, 9:30 at Cafe Du Nord. $15.
"Boca do Rio is musicá organica -- live music played live. The music is inspired by the thousands of musicians and the music lovers that have gone before us and laid the rhythmic foundations of samba, baião, samba-reggae, the dances for the orishas, and all that gives homage to the beats. It is the African diaspora alive through rhythms and pulses – it is the commonality that binds humans to the air we breathe, the food from which we nourish, the water we imbibe, and the love through which we flourish." -- MySpace