LOS FABULOCOS FEATURING KID RAMOS Source: Wichita Blues Society Date: 12/2008 Writer: Gary Hess

Legendary blues-guitarist Kid Ramos has teamed up with three veterans of the Cali-Mex music scene for an attention getting self-titled debut release, Los Fabulocos featuring Kid Ramos, from Delta Groove Music. You can't really categorize it as mainstream blues but it deserves more than one listening, even if your blues tastes happen to run closer to the muddy Mississippi than the hot'n spicy Rio Grande.

Kid Ramos made his mark as guitarist for the James Harman Band and then spent seven years with the Fabulous Thunderbirds before recording several solo blues albums. In a way, Ramos has now come back home to his southern California roots. The other band members, bassist James Barrios, drummer Mike Molina and lead vocalist Jesus Cuevas on the squeezebox, come from various popular groups like The Blazers that blend a double dose of south of the border Mexican styles with rock, blues, Bakersfield honky tonk and whatever else the local audiences want to hear.

Just as the Hispanic culture found its way into mainstream US eating habits, it has had a profound effect on music tastes in the Southwest, hence the term Cali-Mex music. This studio disc tries to capture the wide range of roots music genres, representing both sides of the border, that go into a live Los Fabulocos show.

The first track, "Educated Fool" by New Orleans' pianist Huey "Piano" Smith, introduces Cuevas' accordian with a definite Cajun feel on top of Ramos' driving but tasty guitar. The next one, a Cuevas original, has a more definite south-of-the-border flavor but still leaves room for the muscular guitar work of Ramos.

The remaining eleven selections continue to demonstrate the enormous range of roots-oriented styles that Ramos is totally comfortable in. Although the accordion puts a big helping of hot salsa on most tracks, you can hear influences in the music that sound like they're coming from Fats Domino, Marty Robbins, Bill Haley, Duane Eddy, even southern boogie bands, in addition to several tunes sung in Spanish.Those several are not just a simple nod to their Mexican roots, as Ramos pulls out the 12string bajo sexto, a type of 12-string acoustic guitar with bass strings associated with authentic conjunto and norteno music of northern Mexico.

Tex-Mex music has always had a place at the roots & blues table, just like country, rockabilly and Cajun. Now Kid Ramos has brought his decades of more mainstream blues experience back home and injected it into the already expanding pallette of at least the Southern California music scene as their musical borders continue to blur.

If you're looking for a screaming guitar blues album, which Ramos could do in one take if he wanted to, this is not that. What it is is a great rhythm section being fueled by both a strong creative guitar player and a strong and sometimes daring Mexi-style accordion player. The band is loose and the recording has the feel of everyone playing in the same
room with never more than one or two takes to nail it.

If your music tastes venture south of the border this one might have
you on the dance floor all night.  Do you want corn or flour tortillas with that?