#455 – Los Lobos, ‘How Will the Wolf Survive’

How Will the Wolf Survive? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: 1984
Label: Slash, Warner Bros.
Genre: Chicano rock, R&B, blues rock, heartland rock
Producer: T Bone Burnett

I thought this was going to be another latin-Mexican-confused infused album along the lines of Manu Chao’s back at #474, but this was a lot better, and a nice surprise. Sitting somewhere between country and rock and rockabilly, with obvious latin influences, this is a pleasant, simple record. Too constantly upbeat for me to take seriously (need that light and shade…), but still, this was nice enough.

#482 – Steve Earle, ‘Guitar Town’

Released: March 5, 1986
Label: MCA
Genre: Country rock, americana, Texas country, heartland rock, rockabilly
Producer: Emory Gordy, Jr., Tony Brown, Richard Bennett (AP)

If there’s lots of different styles and sub-genres of country, and I’m sure there is, Guitar Town is surely in the most country of them – this is chock full of slide guitars and lyrics about broken homes and booze and Earle has the most extreme country twang I’ve ever heard. Thankfully I like country and this reminds me a lot of the music I grew up on – Waylon Jennings and Tammy Wynette, George Jones and Tanya Tucker and the Storyteller himself Tom T Hall. This sounds more grown up though, it’s arrangements a little bit more complex, more modern.

Top track: “Fearless Heart” is a beautiful country love song and “Little Rock ‘N’ Roller” is sugar-sweet and reminds me a lot of The Dixie Chicks’ “Lullaby”. For heartache listen to “My Old Friend the Blues” and for honky-tonk fun, “Guitar Town”.