music record reviews
David Hidalgo & Los Cenzontles
Songs of Wood & Steel

Jim Abbott | Sentinel Pop Music Critic
    October 10, 2008

David Hidalgo has been finding the common thread between Buddy Holly and traditional Mexican music since the early days of Los Lobos, and he demonstrates that knack again on this new collaboration.

Hidalgo teams with Los Cenzontles, a roots ensemble based at the Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center near San Francisco, for 14 songs that encompass popular songs, originals, obscure traditional tunes and jams.

The cross-section of influences is immediately evident in the opening "Mi Unico Camino," which injects electric slide guitar into the DNA of a lovely folk ballad.

At other points, the album embraces spirited mariachi ("El Chivo"), rockabilly "Red River Road, Part One") and even atmospheric rock on "Howling Moon." The latter is one of the album's most effective hybrids, framing Hidalgo's distorted guitar above a lilting combination of acoustic guitars, guitarron and maracas.

A few more ambitious genre-bending tracks, along the lines of closing "Ojitos Negros," would have made this project transcendent. As it is, it's merely very good.