What needs to be said about a little ol’ band from East L.A. called Los Lobos? Do we need to point out that they’ve played over 100 shows a year since they were founded 50 years ago? Does anyone really need to be reminded that they’ve recorded 17 studio albums, charted a #1 hit with their cover of “La Bamba,” and won multiple awards, including several Grammys?
Maybe the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame needs a reminder. Los Lobos was first nominated for inclusion in 2015, but the band has not yet been inducted. Omitting the most successful, most ass-kicking Mexican-American rock band from the ranks of that institution is a significant oversight, perhaps the most egregious among many absences from the Hall’s ranks. (We can argue about whether the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame really matters, but that doesn’t give the institution an excuse for this snub.)
After all, there aren’t many bands that can boast of a lineup that has four of its founding members after five decades. Are there any others?!
David Hidalgo (guitar, accordion, vocals), Cesar Rosas (guitar, vocals), Louie Pérez (guitar, jarana huasteca, drums, vocals), and Conrad Lozano (bass, vocals) founded Los Lobos in high school. The lineup for the first two years also included Frank González (vocals, mandolin, and arpa jarocha) and Richard Escalante (bass, vocals).
They named the band in tribute to norteño band Los Tigres del Norte, and at first they played both American Top 40 covers and traditional Mexican music. As the years went on, they began to write their own blended rock and roll music and developed a unique sound. By 1976, they were down to four members, but in 1982, Steve Berlin joined to play saxophone and keys. The baby of the band, he’s only been with them for, oh, four freakin’ decades.
Now on tour celebrating 50 years together, Los Lobos appeared at the JaM Cellars Ballroom in Napa, CA, on Saturday, January 13, 2024. The audience included many Los Lobos veteran fans, some of whom boasted of seeing them dozens of times, and also newbies hoping to hear their favorite song. The band may or may not have played everyone’s favorite song, but there is no doubt everyone left knowing they’d spent over two hours watching one of America’s greatest rock and roll bands.
Rosas wore his trademark Ray-Bans. Hidalgo wailed on his Strat. Bass player Lozano spent most of the set sitting in front of the drum kit on his amp. He’s reportedly had knee issues for the past several years, and since at least 2021 (perhaps longer) he’s been performing this way. His enthusiastic playing remains as vibrant as ever – whatever energy he’s not putting into standing goes into his fingers.
With relatively new drummer Alfredo Ortiz on drums behind them, the five core members spread across the stage to deliver two sets of music spanning their history and interweaving their Mexican and American heritages. The first set opened with "Will the Wolf Survive?" – a rocker from Los Lobos’ 1984 breakthrough album of the almost-same name. Later in the set, they threw down "Los Chucos Suaves," a big-band’ish Latin jazz number written by “Father of Chicano Music”
Lalo Guerrero in the 1940s. This was one of several songs in the JaM Cellars show from 2021’s "Native Sons," Los Lobos’ most recent, mostly-covers album. “Flat Top Joint,” originally a Blasters song (also from "Native Sons"), closed the set.
The second set opened with “Evangeline,” another track from "How Will the Wolf Survive." Dancers two-stepped in the back of the hall. Deadheads (Los Lobos draws many of them) swayed in Deadhead fashion, thrilled as ever to hear the song many of them know from Jerry Garcia’s cover version with his solo band. Later in the show, Rosas reminded the audience, “Don’t forget to boogie!” They needed no reminder.
Hidalgo traded in his guitar for an accordion to play “Kiko and the Lavender Moon.” With a traditional Mexican folk music rhythm, “Kiko” describes a cat who “plays and plays, still playing till he goes off to sleep.” Hmmm, that could apply just as well to everyone in Los Lobos.
Following that, Pérez (who spent time behind the drum kit during a span in Los Lobos’ early years) gave Ortiz a break and took over the kit for three songs. One of these was “Mexico Americano,” which Rosas introduced: “This next song goes out to César Chávez and Dolores Huerta.” Originally released by Los Pingüinos del Norte in 1970, the lyrics are yet another perfect description of Los Lobos themselves. Here’s the lyric, sung in Spanish (but with English translation):
"Por mi madre, yo soy mexicano, por destino, soy americano
(Because of my mother, I'm Mexican, by destiny, I'm an American)
Yo soy de la raza de oro, yo soy México Americano
(I am of the golden race, I am Mexican American)
Yo te comprendo el inglés, también te hablo en castellano
(I understand your English, I also speak to you in Spanish)
Yo soy de la raza de noble, yo soy México Americano
(I am of the noble race, I am Mexican American)"
The second set closed with “Georgia Slop,” a boogie-down 12-bar rocker. Berlin’s baritone sax held the bottom with foghorn pomp during the verses, and his solo gave a 1950’s “At the Hop” vibe.
For an encore, Los Lobos delivered some familiar goods. A lot of fans probably got to hear their favorite song during the final twenty minutes. First, Los Lobos teased “Not Fade Away,” giving the audience a chance to show their familiarity with the lyrics. (Spoiler alert: not everyone got a passing grade.) Diehard fans knew that the 90 seconds of the Buddy Holly classic was an intro for the Los Lobos cover of “Bertha.” With the stormy weather outside, the lyric was perhaps never so poignant:
"Ran into a rainstorm, ducked into a bar door
It was all night pouring, but not a drop on me"
Next, an odd synchronicity: my wife, who was in New York this weekend to see Dead cover band Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, texted me to say they’d played “Vampire Blues,” a Neil Young song. I kid you not that at the very moment I read her text, Los Lobos played the first chord of “Cinnamon Girl.” Whoa, dude.
To send the audience home, Los Lobos ended the encore with their biggest hit, a cover of Richie Valens’ “La Bamba.” Many of those who weren’t dancing held their phones up to catch the moment on video. The song segued into another early rock and roll hit, “Good Lovin’” (yes, also covered by the Dead, so the Deadheads were happy again) before coming back to let the crowd sing the last verse of “La Bamba.” (Again, mixed grades.) Finally, with a big blues coda as a send-off flourish, Los Lobos said goodnight, adios, see you later.
Do they have another decade in them? How long will the wolf survive? All we know is they are still running, still kicking butts, and as deserving as ever of accolades for being a rock and roll treasure. And that’s something worth talking about.
