The Old Barrio Guide To Low Rider Music

by Ruben Molina

     Since the forties Mexican-American teens have been drawn to African-American music of all kinds. jazz, rhythm and blues, group harmony (doo-wop), soul, funk and most recently rap and hip hop. Since the mid-fifties one group in particular the pachuco a.k.a. cholo has adopted select R&B grinders and tearjerkers (ballads) to provide the sound track for his most prized possession, the low rider.

     Early on it was the sound of Don Julian, Jesse Belvin, the Velvetones and Shirley and Lee. It was the sound of El Monte Legion Stadium, Art Laboe, the Shrine Auditorium and Huggy Boy and the sound of Whittier Blvd. By the early sixties homeboys and homegirls were digging the sounds of the Metallics, Billy Stewart, the Blendtones and the up and coming East Side Sound of the Romancers, the Premiers, Thee Midniters and Cannibal and the Headhunters. When disco took the world by storm in the early seventies the homeboys stayed true to those R&B tunes now known as "Oldies but Goodies" a term coined by Art Laboe in 1958.

     The hey day of the barrio low rider has passed. Southern California's cruising spots like Whittier Blvd., Van Nuys, and San Fernando's Mission Park have been closed to cruising since around 1975. Teen dances are also a thing of the past and "oldies" stations are dedicated to the Beatles and Beach Boys. However, the underground market for sixties and seventies R&B and soul has produced a new phase in the low rider sound.

     Seven years of research and hard work have produced the first book ever to chronicle the music of the low rider. Interviews with artist and record company owners like Frankie Karl, George Kerr, Weldon McDougal (Harthon), Chuck Corby, Richard Poindexter, Freddie Hughes, Mickey Lespron (El Chicano), Little Ray Jimenez, Tommy Turner, Chris Ollan (Natural Four), Joe Evans, Gene Dozier, Skip Mahoney, Sunny Ozuna, Jimmy Pipkin (Gallahads), Art Laboe, Huggy Boy, Jimmy Conwell and Anthony Renfro plus many others have helped to make this book one of a kind. Listed in alphabetical order by artist the book supplies all group members, group or artist history, city of origin and a low rider discography. The new third edition also includes a list of CD's where every song can be found.  Approx 140 artist photos and several Southern California dance posters and flyers from the fifties and sixties are included.

Third edition 184 pages (16 added since 2nd edition), 8 full color printed on heavy 8# glossy paper and a 14# matte finished cover 1000 printed. Autographed on your request.

For more information on "The Old Barrio Guide To Low Rider Music" and to order, go to Ruben Molina's website, www.mictlan.com.

Contact me at:  info@markguerrero.net

Previous page ||

Return to miscellaneous related books index page