Written for guitar and accordion by Don Leady (The Tail Gators, Big Guitars From Texas, original LeRoi Brothers), Dos Rios is a collection of original cumbias, boleros, sambas, waltzes, polkas and a huapango recorded with Kevin Smith (Willie Nelson) and Mark Rubin (Bad Livers) on upright bass, JJ Barrera (Tail Gators, Johnny Degollado) on bajo sexto and electric bass and Glenn Rios on percussion.
The project combines recordings from two different bands that Leady formed in the early 1990s, Los Cadillos and Trio Sol.
Conjunto band Los Cadillos came out of Leady's admiration for seminal roots music composers like Don Santiago Jimenez and Narciso Martinez. Los Cadillos featured a variety of players during their live performances, including Leady on accordion, Kevin Smith on bass and JJ Barrera on bajo sexto, who are on this release on original polkas, waltzes and a huapango all written by Leady along with one Narciso Martinez favorite, La Desvelada.
Bajo Sexto greats Ramon “Rabbit” Sanchez (Santiago Jimenez) and Vicente “Chente” Alonzo also played in this band in many live performances.
Leady's Trio Sol, featuring Mark Rubin on bass and Glenn Rios on drums, performed original cumbias, boleros and sambas influenced by styles throughout Latin America, particularly Colombia and Mexico.
While mastering tracks for what was meant to be two releases, one album for each band, Leady felt there was such a strong connection between the two projects that he decided to combine them into one album. Jacqueline Rush Rivera, who helped select the cuts on the album, suggested naming the album Dos Rios ("two rivers").Track Listing
1. Cumbia de Medianoche 2
2. El Abinico de Encaje
3. Brinco
4. Gold Doubloons
5. Kyoto
6. El Rio
7. Samba Parade
8. Africa
9. Pieces of Eight
10. Blue Cumbia 2
11. Vuelve Mi Amour
12. La Desvelada (by Narciso Martinez)
13. Don Santiago
14. Blue Cumbia 1
15. El Submarino
16. Colombia Cumbia 1
17. Cumbia de Medianoche 1