Steve Earle Photograph by Brian Blauser, Mountain Stage / Los Lobos Photograph by Piero F. Giunti
Although they have crossed paths over the course of their celebrated careers Steve Earle and Los Lobos have now joined forces in the studio for the first time. The artists have just released “Volver A Celaya” via New West Records. They recorded the Earle composition at Red Amp Studios in Richmond, VA earlier this summer with Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin producing the session. The song is now available for streaming and will be released on October 16 as a 7” vinyl single via Independent Retailers.
Berlin notes, “Working with Steve Earle on this project is the latest culmination of a long and fruitful relationship going back decades. We had an absolute blast working on this special song with him as there are few songwriters extant who can say so much by simply painting the picture of life under the current regime. We look forward to future collaborations.”
Earle says of the song itself, “The character speaking to you in this song is based on guys that I worked with framing houses, right after I dropped out of High School in 1971. At first I worked with other guys who looked like me - anglos on crews that worked from 7:00am til 3:30 and then knocked off and headed to the nearest beer joint. Minimum wage was $1.60 an hour and I never took home a check bigger than 85 bucks - until I discovered Mexican crews worked from ‘can’t see to can’t see,’ sometimes putting in 50, even 55 hours a week. Shortly after starting with those guys, I held a hundred dollars in my hand for the first time in my life. It was simply a different way of thinking about making a living. These guys put in all the hours they could, brought the money home to their family on the westside - or back across the border to Mexico. I didn’t mind working late because, as far as I knew, nothing cool happened ‘til dark anyway.” He continues, “These days, with the word ‘immigration’ on the tip of everyone’s tongue, I found myself wondering where Cruz, Armando, and Eusebio are today and what they would make of this mess, so I set to putting words in their mouths.”
As for working with Los Lobos, he adds, “When writing was done and it was time to record, there wasn’t a shred of doubt in my mind who to call. Los Lobos and I have been connected at our roots since the beginning of our careers. We’ve shared stages at festivals and toured together as a package but collaborating in the studio was a box unchecked - until now.”
“Volver A Celaya” is now streaming and will be released on October 16 as a 7” vinyl single via Independent Retailers.
