Steve Earle & Los Lobos Share 1st Studio Collaboration ‘Volver A Celaya’

Steve Earle and Los Lobos shared a new single, “Volver A Celaya,” via New West Records. The track marks the artists’ first studio collaboration despite being “connected at our roots since the beginning of our careers,” Earle said.

Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin produced “Volver A Celaya” at Red Amp Studios in Richmond, Virginia. Steve Earle brought the song to his past-tourmates after writing it during the songwriting workshops he taught at the Jalopy Theatre and School of Music in Brooklyn.

“Working with Steve Earle on this project is the latest culmination of a long and fruitful relationship going back decades,” Berlin said. “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 offered some historical context for “Volver A Celaya.”

“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. 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” arrived with Earle’s “City Of Immigrants” as its B-side. The song originally appeared on the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s Grammy-winning 2007 album, Washington Square Serenade.

Check out “Volver A Celaya” and “City Of Immigrants” below: