If only by virtue of being crossover artists, FREDDY FENDER and FLACO JIMENEZ have each secured a rarified place in Hispanic music. Fender’s earthy Rio Grande Valley hits, like “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” got him there, while Jimenez’s San Antonio–style conjunto attracted Anglo ears as varied as Glen Campbell’s and Bryan Ferry’s. Fender and Jimenez last recorded together in the nineties, playing Tex-Mex rock and roll with the Texas Tornados. DOS AMIGOS (Back Porch), though, plays like a dug-up time capsule, dropping you right on the early-sixties Texas border. There’s not a hint of modernism among these joyful and sometimes bawdy tunes, all sung in the duo’s native Spanish. Simply backed by minimal percussion and a bajo sexto, Fender’s voice soars above the swirling arpeggios of Jimenez’s accordion, finding a spontaneous passion almost always missing from more-calculated efforts.
