Los Lobos: 50th Anniversary Tour

Los Lobos: 50th Anniversary Tour

The Grammy-winning group Los Lobos celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In 1973, original members David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano began their career playing revved-up versions of Mexican folk music in restaurants and at parties. The band evolved in the 1980s as it tapped into L.A.’s burgeoning punk and college rock scenes, receiving critical acclaim and winning a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance for the song “Anselma” from its 1983 EP …And a Time to Dance.

In 1984, the group added saxophonist Steve Berlin and released its full-length, major-label debut, How Will the Wolf Survive?, which was co-produced by Berlin and T Bone Burnett. The album helped Los Lobos tie with Bruce Springsteen as Rolling Stone’s Artist of the Year.

A major turning point for the group came in 1987 with the release of the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba. The quintet’s cover of Valens’s signature song, “La Bamba,” topped the charts in the U.S. and the U.K.  Los Lobos followed this success with the release of their 1988 album La Pistola y El Corazón, a tribute to Tejano and mariachi music, which won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance.

Since then, the band has released more than a dozen full-length studio albums, including an album of Disney songs in 2009, and many contributions to tribute albums and film soundtracks. Their song “Mariachi Suite” from the 1995 film Desperado, earned the band a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Los Lobos’ 2021 album, Native Sons, is a love letter to the city of Los Angeles and returned the band to the Grammy winner’s circle with Best Americana Album of 2021.

Los Lobos is featured in the museum’s current exhibition Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock, presented by City National Bank.

Source: CMA Theater