In the world of Alt-Country, Insurgent Country, Cowpunk or whatever you want to call it, Gram Parsons is the grandfather you never met, and Alejandro Escovedo is the long-lost uncle you are amazed you never knew existed. He didn’t write a song until he was 30, but that’s only because he was busy opening for the Sex Pistols at their final gig with his legendary punk band The Nuns.

Then there’s his role as a founding member of ’80s alt-country pioneers Rank and File. Add to that some filmmaking, playwriting, three other bands and a multi-album solo career, and you’re almost up to date on all that Escovedo has accomplished in his 50 years.

With a resume like that, most musicians would be hard-pressed to match the passion and immediacy of what they recorded in their glory days. But perhaps because he got a late start writing his own songs, Escovedo defies the burnt-out rocker stereotype by topping himself with every record.

Escovedo is first and foremost a storyteller, which explains why he started out making films and why he last year co-wrote an original play with music, “By the Hand of the Father,” based on his father’s migration from Mexico to America.

Then somewhere along the line, Escovedo got swept up by rock and roll. It was only natural for him to start telling stories that way, too. Escovedo’s most recent album, A Man Under the Influence, may be his finest to date. While better-known figureheads of alternative country (like Whiskeytown’s Ryan Adams) are attempting the jump to mainstream rock and major-label big bucks, Escovedo remains squarely in the category of Parsons, his under-appreciated forefather. And if doing things this way is not exactly a commercial goldmine, at least it yields musically superior results to Adams’ predictable and overrated Gold. (As irony would have it, though, Adams contributes backing vocals on A Man Under the Influence.)

In support of A Man, Escovedo visits Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music this Saturday night. Like his albums, Escovedo’s live shows are marked by pleasant contradictions. It is not uncommon to hear the band go from an achingly dark country ballad into a cover of Iggy Pop’s “I Wanna be Your Dog,” made even stranger by a cello accompaniment. Expect similar quirks at this weekend’s show.

Now is the time to catch Escovedo live, because we all know that long lost uncles have a way of disappearing before you have a chance to hear their crazy stories. nyou