Far from being "just another band from East LA," the Los Lobos guys have their roots in Mexican and other Latin music, rockabilly, blues and jazz. They are also that rarity, a band that can create socially conscious tunes that don't beat you over the head with politics.

Their current tour includes a performance at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, at the Rogue Theatre, 143 S.E. H St., Grants Pass. (Two of their next three shows are in Los Angeles and New York City.)

Their newest album "The Town and the City" was named one of Metacritic database's top 10 albums of the year, along with entries from Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Ali Farka Toure. It also made the top 10 of David Dye's "World Cafe" radio show on National Public Radio.

And David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, who write most of the band's material, say they had to struggle on this one. They started with nothing about a month before costly studio time was booked.

Hidalgo finally said, "No, man. This record lives somewhere else," and used a funky old casette recorder to lay down the groove that would become the mesmerizing "The Valley" and several other pregnant ideas, and the guys were off and running again.

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Making acclaimed albums is not new for Los Lobos. The band formed in their 'hood in the mid-70s, released an independent LP in the late 1970s and an EP in 1983. Their major-label debut was 1984's "How Will the Wolf Survive?" followed by the equally well-received "By the Light of the Moon."

In 1987 they recorded some Ritchie Valens covers for the soundtrack to the film "La Bamba," including the title tune, which became a number one single for the band, winning legions of new fans.

In 1988, "La Pistola y El Corazón" with its classic norteño songs was thought to be commercial suicide, and it didn't sell. But the band's reputation was made, and it toured through the 1990s opening for the likes of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead.

The experimental and innovative "Kiko" (produced by Mitchell From) in 1992 perhaps set a new artistic high. In 1991 the band contributed a lively cover of the Dead's "Bertha" to the Grateful Dead tribute/rain forest benefit album "Deadicated."

The band recorded a children's album, scored the film "Desperado" and made yet another acclaimed album with disappointing sales, 1996's "Colossal Head."

In 2002, the band released their Mammoth Records debut, "Good Morning Aztlan." They released "The Ride" in 2004. Then came "The Town and the City."