Although dozens of artists have made the claim that Edmonton's folk festival is one of the best in the world, a solid confirmation of the fact is the presence of Alejandro Escovedo.

A true working veteran of Americana music, the 54-year-old Escovedo collapsed on stage in 2003 with internal bleeding and was diagnosed then with virosis of the esophagus, advanced cirrhosis of the liver and possible tumours in his abdomen.

It turned out to be the advanced stages of hepatitis C - and he's lucky to be alive, let alone playing our renowned music festival tomorrow at 5 p.m. on Stage 1 and as part of the Porch Songs session Sunday at 11 a.m., also on Stage 1.

"I just tell everybody, 'You can't believe how great this festival is,' " says the musical storyteller and poet, who last played Edmonton in 1999.

"I'm very excited about coming back and just really happy to be able to. I'm going to bring my daughter and my wife, so I'm really excited about that."

While driving around Austin, Texas, with two-year-old Amala, the youngest of his seven children, Escovedo recalls his health crisis and the Interferon Ribavirin treatment, described by him as "chemo-lite."

"I was only able to take it for nine months because it was eating away my bone marrow, so I wasn't very healthy," he says.

"It really just kind of kicked my ass and it took a while to recover from that alone, much less the disease itself."

The treatment may have helped his health improve. But it was the incredible support of his family and friends that got him back on North American stages, and it came in the form of last year's double-disc release titled Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo.

Thirty-one of Escovedo's songs were recorded by an incredible collection of peers, including Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Caitlin Cary, Charlie Musselwhite, Howe Gelb, Bob Neuwirth, Rosie Flores, Son Volt and his brother Javier.

"It helps with the medical funds and just the fact that I was unable to work," Escovedo says of the beautiful album that was at the helm of the Alejandro Fund, set up not only for Escovedo, but for other American musicians working without medical insurance.

"There were so many different facets to that emotional experience because you feel humbled and you feel unworthy of it. But in the end, like my wife always convinced me, it was not just making me feel better, it was making other people feel better by helping me. So that was really what made it easier for me to accept it," says Escovedo, explaining a box set could've been released if everyone who had wanted to record was included.

"The really wonderful thing about all this was I had no idea what kind of effect the music really did have on people.

"Touring around, you're working hard and you just keep working and there's no time to sit there and pat yourself on the back."

Escovedo's musical career started when he was 24 and trying to make it as a filmmaker while living on the streets of San Francisco.

"We were making a movie about the world's worst band.

"We went to go film this concert of this band and we just became the band and dropped the movie.

"We were so bad that I used to literally have to ask people to tune my guitar for the stage.

"Like if there was someone in the audience who could tune my guitar, that was a good night."

When you can't play music well, punk rock is a great option, and Escovedo's band the Nuns opened for the Sex Pistols' legendary last concert in 1978 before he co-founded the renowned cowpunk group Rank and File in the early '80s.

His sound swayed as he began to master the guitar, eventually seeing him release his solo debut Gravity in 1992.

Escovedo now has his own label, More Miles Than Money Records, which released a collection of live performances last year, as well as a new string quartet recording he'll have with him here.