Two Americana institutions have finally crossed one item off their collective bucket list. Steve Earle and Los Lobos have teamed up for the first studio collaboration of their decades-long careers, releasing the new single “Volver A Celaya” via New West Records.
Though the artists have shared festival stages and package tours for years, they’d never actually recorded together until this summer, when Earle joined Los Lobos in Richmond, Va., for a session at Red Amp Studios produced by saxophonist Steve Berlin.
“Los Lobos and I have been connected at our roots since the beginning of our careers,” Earle said. “We’ve shared stages at festivals and toured together as a package but collaborating in the studio was a box unchecked — until now.”
The song itself has an equally unlikely origin story. Earle first wrote “Volver A Celaya” during a series of intimate songwriting workshops he led last spring at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theatre and School of Music before bringing it to Los Lobos for the recording session.
The collaboration will also receive a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl release on Oct. 16. Its B-side pairs the new song with Earle’s “City of Immigrants,” originally featured on his Grammy-winning 2007 album Washington Square Serenade. The track recently took on renewed relevance with a Steve Buscemi-directed video celebrating the enduring contributions of immigrants to American life.
The release arrives as both acts remain characteristically road-tested. Earle is in the midst of his sprawling Fifty-One Years of Songs and Stories tour before heading to Europe later this month with the Waterboys and returning stateside for a star-studded Hardly Strictly Bluegrass tribute featuring Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Molly Tuttle and others.
Los Lobos, meanwhile, continues the relentless touring schedule that’s defined the East Los Angeles band’s five-decade career, with the Brotherhood Tour alongside Los Lonely Boys, a stop at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion and the 2027 Latin Legends Cruise all on deck.
