Los Lobos played some acoustic shows for the first time in years last year. It was just a few gigs around California. But it was so much fun, and the response was so good, the guys decided to do some more.

The band plans a rare acoustic set mixing traditional Mexican folk tunes with rock and originals when it kicks off its new tour in Medford at 8 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. The tour will work its way through California, Arizona and Colorado and then move back East.

It will be the first time Los Lobos fans have been treated to this side of the band, with the exception of those 2004 gigs, since its "La Pistola y El Corazon" tour 15 years ago.

"It was fun to do," says singer-guitarist-songwriter and founding Lobo David Hidalgo. "We thought we’d extend it this time. A lot of it is getting our chops back, doing the old stuff."

Los Lobos was formed in 1974 by Hidalgo, Conrad Lozano, Louie Pérez and Cesar Rosas when they were students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. Hidalgo had been copping Clapton riffs in another band, then discovered more challenge in poking around the rich heritage of Mexican folk music.

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"It started hanging out in the back yard playing guitars and drinking beer," he says.

The mix of Mexican roots and rock soon produced a unique sound. The early albums were hailed as fresh and different. Steve Berlin joined the band in 1983.

The band’s 1987 re-working of the old Richie Valens tune "La Bamba" was a monster hit for the band as well as the sound of a hit movie, and it broke Los Lobos through to a bigger audience.

Hidalgo says band members have been rehearsing hard, something they don’t usually have to do that much of before a tour. Rock and folk music require styles of playing that are sometimes at odds with each other. Mexican music is a rich tradition from norteña to ranchera to Veracruz’s jarocho music. And that’s not to mention the tunes in the Los Lobos playlist from Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico and even Panama.

The common link in the various threads of the band’s music is salsa and Latin dance music from the Caribbean. Even many of the instruments are different — guitarones, jaranas and bajo sextos.

"The technique is different," Hidalgo says in a cell phone interview as he shops for groceries in Orange County, Calif. "Folk music takes some different instruments. It’s more involved."

Hidalgo says he doesn’t know how many instruments he plays.

"They’re all guitar-based," he says.

One he won’t be playing is a Fender Stratocaster given to him by Jerry Garcia.

"It’s really special to me," he says. "It stays home. I take it out now and then."

Los Lobos opened a number of times over the years for the Grateful Dead, and Hidalgo sometimes would sit and talk with Garcia backstage.

"He was a great guy," he says.

"Hurry Tomorrow," a song on the new Los Lobos album, "The Ride," was written by founding Rosas and Garcia’s lyricist, Robert Hunter. In addition to Hunter, the CD features such artists as Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples, Richard Thompson, Tom Waits and Ruben Blades.

"We were trying to cover all the bases, people we’ve admired," Hidalgo says. "If Jerry were around, he’d be the guy. Since he isn’t with us, we went, ‘Let’s have fun with his partner.’ It’s a way to say thanks to the Dead."

When Hidalgo writes songs, he says it usually starts with the music rather than the lyrics. "Rita," a tune on "The Ride," stemmed from Hidalgo simply strumming chords.

"But we’ll take it any way we can get it," he says.

He says it wasn’t possible to know 30 years ago he and his high school buddies would still be playing together.

"The dream was to play the music I want to play and eke out a living," he says. "Thank God it’s been OK."

Where does he see the band 10 years from now?

"Hopefully alive," he says laughing. "Still doing what we want to do, maybe more when we want to than when we have to, semi-retired."

Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail bvarble@mailtribune.com