New York City was where Alfonso Velez’s biggest musical touchstone, Bob Dylan, gained notoriety, so it makes sense that Velez relocated there from Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago. The son of a Mexican actuary and a Cuban architect, Velez has lived on three continents, giving him a wider worldview that makes his gift for lyrical linguistics all the more powerful.
He’s no Dylan, and he knows this–his last album featured the poignant “Prayer For Bobby,” a moving musical tribute to his mentor-at-a-distance. Velez, however, possesses a keening tenor that’s reminiscent of early Dylan without the midwestern twang.
“The Weather,” title song to Velez’s latest, features the kind of rolling piano riffs that fans of The Band will recognize, atop a lyric about the transient nature of both love and the weather: “We started out as summer lovers, but now it’s frozen here.”
Like fellow New Yorker Andy Friedman, Velez plays the kind of countrified rock that’s neither rock nor country, but somewhere in that sweet spot between the two–like a sunny day in the midst of the rainy season, The Weather is fine–come out and play.
