#otis rush

Jump Sister Bessie - Otis Rush

1957

West Side Chicago blues at full tilt

Song Review: Los Lobos - “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy”

Often thought of as the quintessential Mexican-American band - which on one level they are - Los Lobos are also very much a blues band. And one so highly regarded, the group gets its own 45-rpm single on the forthcoming Antone’s 50th Allstars - 50 Years of the Blues.

Sharing company with, among others, Albert Collins, Gary Clark Jr., Otis Rush, Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall II, Ruthie Foster, Pinetop Perkins and James Cotton, Los Lobos present themselves as authentic as any blues act on the Willie Dixon-penned stomper.

With Cesar Rosas wailing at the mic and Steve Berlin blowing sax like natch’al born Chicagoans, the band from East L.A. are temporary South Siders on this studio version of a song that all-too rarely makes it to the stage.

And when Rosas and David Hidalgo get their respective six strings in a tangle, Los Lobos’ seemingly unlikely inclusion - on a seven-inch standalone no less - on a various-artists boxset devoted to the blues suddenly makes perfect sense.

Antone’s 50th Allstars - 50 Years of the Blues is due Aug. 22.

Grade card: Los Lobos - “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy” - A