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Los Lobos, 30 Years On

Los Lobos member David Hidalgo, in NPR's Studio 4A.
Paul Schomer, NPR
Los Lobos member David Hidalgo, in NPR's Studio 4A.

Louie Perez, in the studio.
Paul Schomer, NPR /
Louie Perez, in the studio.

It's been 30 years since Los Lobos formed, somewhat by accident. Its members had been in other bands but somehow found each other in East L.A. Their new CD, appropriately named The Ride, celebrates the band's three decades together.

"How cool of a job is this?" band member Louie Perez tells NPR's Renee Montagne. "You get to run around the world with your friends, playing music and laughing like idiots."

Performing with Los Lobos on the album are artists they've admired since high school -- soul's Bobby Womack, the '60s Chicano rocker Little Willie G., legendary singer-songwriter Tom Waits and English folk-rocker Richard Thompson.

Perez and other members of Los Lobos -- David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, Steve Berlin and Conrad Lozano -- visit NPR's Studio 4A, where they perform some new songs (and some old ones) and discuss their career.

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