It’s a little unsettling at first to see Los Lobos whistling and dancing with Dopey and Sleepy at Epcot – Disney’s seven dwarfs swaying their arms as the East L.A. rock stars launch into a cumbia remix of “Heigh-Ho” complete with galloping electric guitar riffs and Spanish lyrics. But the triple-Grammy-winning band somehow injects some classic material into the commercial collection.

“David Hidalgo, Los Lobos’ lead singer, is as much an icon of Los Angeles culture as Walt Disney,” writes Washington Post reviewer Geoffrey Himes. “By bringing those two icons together, songs originally sung by roosters, monkeys, dogs, dolls and dwarves now sound like an East L.A. wedding party set to a rocking border beat.”

The Disney album reinforces the brilliance of Los Lobos’ music, which blends the rock-and-roll sprit of American tomatoes with the chilis of traditional Mexican songwriting to make one smoking-hot salsa. In putting a Chicano twist on any white-bread number, they can break down musical borders.

In 1987, Los Lobos re-popularized Ritchie Valen’s “La Bamba,” jumping to the top of Billboard charts. Now they’re just as comfortable strumming acoustic Latin American folk songs as they are strapping on electrics to rock out with John Mellencamp.

Sure, purists may call Los Lobos tunes an over-Americanized dish, the auditory equivalent of a Chipotle burrito, but think of how many people are exposed to David Hildalgo’s awing classical picking or the swagger of Conrad Lozano’s guitarrón through their Tex-Mex tendencies.

Last summer, Los Lobos signed to label Shout! Factory and will begin recording their 18th original record. “We never plan any album,” says Los Lobos’ saxophonist Steve Berlin. “Like with Kiko and Colossal Head, we just played the songs that showed up, naturally.”

The band performs at Carmel’s Sunset Center on Friday, April 2, with solo instrumental acoustic legend Leo Kottke, whose 12-string finger plucked melodies somehow meander like a rolling river with the speed of white rapids.

Kottke, who started playing guitar at age 11 and released his debut album in 1968, will draw from his extensive repertoire from the revered 1999 release “One Guitar No Vocals” to his most recent collaboration tracks with Phish bassist Mike Gordon.

There’s no official word whether Kottke will sit in with Los Lobos at the concert, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Georgia native pull up a stool with Hidalgo, merging two great folk traditions, American and Mexican, in another uniquely amazing way.

LOS LOBOS and LEO KOTTKE play 8pm Friday, April 2, at the Sunset Center, San Carlos and Ninth, Carmel. $47, $58, $67. 620-2048. www.sunsetcenter.org