Mike Ramirez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Isaac Rodriguez interviews Mike Ramirez, a drummer in multiple conjunto bands about his life and path to becoming a conjunto musician and the impact music has had on his life. Mike talks about his parents moving the family to Houston for work when he was a child, the experience of growing up in the Denver Harbor neighborhood and how his parents influenced his early…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Isaac - Ramirez, Mike, Jr
Date:2022-06-05
Audio Recording
Juan Carlos Villegas interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez III interviews Juan Carlos Villegas (better known as Carlos) about his life and musical career as a Tejano vocalist. Carlos discusses his family’s origins in Jalisco, Mexico, and his experiences of growing up and living in Houston, since 1974. As a child, Carlos saw his uncle perform as a mariachi singer. He subsequently joined a mariachi group at Ripley House (a local…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Villegas, Juan Carlos
Date:2022-06-17
Audio Recording
Lupe Olivarez, Jr. interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Isaac Rodriguez interviews Lupe Olivarez, a long-time musician, festival coordinator, producer and promoter in the Houston music scene, Lupe recounts several details of his life story -- such as his relocation to Houston from LA, his initial exposure to music thanks to his uncle in Tijuana, and the process of becoming a musician himself. Lupe goes on to discuss his career as a musician,…
Contributor:
Olivarez, Lupe - Rodriguez, Isaac
Date:2022-07-07
Audio Recording
Jose Martinez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Isaac Rodriguez interviews José Martinez, a career drummer who has played in several conjunto and Tejano bands over the course of his career. José discusses his childhood in the northside of Houston and how he became involved with music from a young age, joining his father's conjunto band around the age of ten. José also talks about the different bands and artists he has…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Isaac - Martinez, Jose M.
Date:2022-08-26
Audio Recording
Ray Cortez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Isaac Rodriguez interviews Ray Cortez, a drummer who has been playing for Houston Tejano bands for the past thirty years. In this interview Ray Cortez talks about learning music from his brothers and playing in his father’s conjunto band and his father’s friend’s band as a child. He talks about how he came to play with different bands throughout his youth and his experience…
Contributor:
Cortez, Ray - Rodriguez, Isaac
Date:2022-08-31
Audio Recording
Julian Gonzalez Interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Julian Gonzalez, Jr., the current accordion player for the band La Fiebre. Julian recounts his life story, emphasizing his mother's influence on his musical tastes He talks about teaching himself to play accordion in 1995 after graduating from high school, meeting Ricky Veliz a year later and forming the band Complejo. The interview goes on to explore Julian's time touring with…
Contributor:
Gonzalez, Julian, Jr - Rodriguez, Roberto, III
Date:2022-09-03
Audio Recording
Sarge Salas interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Isaac Rodriguez interviews Jose Sergio "Sarge" Salas, a veteran Tejano DJ and drummer who has played with Houston's Powerhouse Avizo for the past 30 years. Sarge talks about growing up on the south side of Austin and living and performing with a physical disability, his father's orchestra and different styles of Tejano drumming. He also talks about different artists and bands he has recorded…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Isaac - Salas, Sarge
Date:2022-09-10
Audio Recording
Ralph Garcia interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Three-part interview with Ralph Garcia, a Tejano musician and keyboardist. Ralph discusses growing up in Houston, starting to play music at an early age and joining his father's conjunto group, Los Arrieros, as the bass player at the age of 13. He talks about Tejano being peripheral to popular culture in the 1970s, then booming in the mid-80s. He notes the different bands he…
Contributor:
Garcia, Ralph (Musician) - Rodriguez, Isaac
Date:2022-09-20
Audio Recording
Luis Ramirez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Interview with Luis Ramirez, a member of the band Latin Express. Luis talks about singing from an early age, and winning a talent show at age 13, which gained the attention of several bands. He goes on to talk about his work as a touring musician, moving to Houston from Victoria, Texas at age 15, and the segregation of musical styles in the two…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Isaac - Ramirez, Luis (Singer)
John Barraza interview conducted by Nick Gaitan
Nick Gaitan interviews John Barraza, a musician, songwriter and guitarist from the West End of Houston. John talks about being raised in a family of artists, being encouraged to pursue music and starting to play in his uncle's Tejano band as a teenager. He reflects on the evolution of the Tejano industry and how the sound has changed over the years, his place within…
Contributor:
Gaitan, Nick - Barraza, John
Date:2022-09-27
Audio Recording
Vick "Nash" Espinoza interview conducted by Nick Gaitan
Nick Gaitan interviews Vick "Nash" Espinoza, a musician, songwriter and guitarist based in Houston. Vick talks about being raised in a family of accordion players and how that has informed his musical upbringing. He discusses different bands and types of music he has been involved with, ranging from conjunto to rock and roll to country over the course of his career. He also discusses…
Contributor:
Espinoza, Victoriano - Gaitan, Nick
Date:2022-09-29
Audio Recording
Albert Chavarria Interview conducted by Nick Gaitan
Nick Gaitan interviews Albert Chavarria, a songwriter, bassist and keyboardist from Houston. Chavarria talks about listening to Rush, Black Sabbath and other rock music while growing up, as well as the musical influence of his family members which led him to learn guitar and then keyboards. Chavarria goes on to discuss different facets of his musical career including recording at Nacho Garza's studio, getting…
Contributor:
Chavarria, Albert - Gaitan, Nick
Date:2022-10-01
Audio Recording
Guillermo Memo Villarreal interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Guillermo "Memo" Villarreal, owner of Memo's Record shop. In this interview Memo discusses his father's career as an accordion player in Tamaulipas, Mexico, how his father's generation of musicians were shaping what would become known as Tejano and norteño music. His father's music largely influenced Memo's love of music, paving the way for his eventual career as a band and dance…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Villarreal, Guillermo Memo
Date:2022-10-21
Audio Recording
Mark Pinon interview conducted by Nick Gaitan
Nick Gaitan interviews Mark Pinon, a drummer who discusses his upbringing in Magnolia Park, in east Houston, and how his older brother and neighbor influenced him to start a band called The Wonders. He discusses the trials and tribulations of playing in a band, and the different musicians he has worked with and been influenced by, over the years.
Contributor:
Gaitan, Nick - Pinon, Mark
Date:2022-10-02
Audio Recording
Bobby Gonzalez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez
Isaac Rodriguez interviews Bobby Gonzalez, a Houston native musician who discusses coming up in the 1960s Chicano music scene while in high school and joining different bands starting at the age of 15. Gonzalez talks about different Texas record labels such as Tear Drop Records, for whom he recorded, and touring as well as performing at the Pan American Ballroom. He ends by reflecting…
Contributor:
Gonzalez, Bobby (Musician) - Rodriguez, Isaac
Date:2022-10-07
Audio Recording
Timothy Rios and Moe Gutierrez interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Timothy Rios, a former member of the band Latin Image and Joe Moses "Moe" Gutierrez, an original member of Latin Image. Moe begins by talking about moving to Houston and getting interested in music when he was in the 5th grade and continuing into high school when he was able to buy a keyboard and join the band which eventually became…
Contributor:
Gutierrez, Moses - Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Rios, Timothy Max
Date:2022-10-07
Audio Recording
Nestor Aguilar interview conducted by Nick Gaitan
Nick Gaitan interviews Nestor Aguilar who reflects on growing up in the Heights neighborhood of Houston, drawing musical influences from his family, in particular his aunt and his dad. He also notes how his musical style was influenced by rock music and radio DJs. He also talks about Latinos in the rock scene, in particular, the Texas punk scene, and his time as a…
Contributor:
Gaitan, Nick - Aguilar, Nestor
Date:2023-03-14
Audio Recording
Armando Sanchez interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Armando Sanchez about his career as a Tejano music distributor starting in the 1980s. He discusses working with big corporate accounts across the country and eventually creating his own record label, South Central Music Distribution, in 2002. Sanchez also talks about the resurgence of vinyl records and the communal experience tied to listening to records.
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Sanchez, Armando
Date:2022-10-16
Film, Video
Avizo performance recorded by Angel Quesada
Avizo performing live at Discovery Green, November 27, 2022: Welcome and introduction by Lala from Houston; Isaac Rodriguez talks about the Tejas Got Soul project and introduces the band. Avizo plays 15 songs including several medleys. Songs 16 and 17 are songs by Rocky Gil and the Bishops. Songs 18 and 19 are tribute songs by Neto Perez. Songs 20-21 are by Big Lu.…
Contributor:
Avizo (Musical Group)
Date:2022-11-27
Audio Recording
Vladimir Castellanos interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Vladimir Castellanos about being interested in music from a young age, learning first how to play the Columbian harp then the keyboard, piano accordion and the guitar. This interest in music led to Castellanos pursuing a career in music, he discusses the various bands he has been a part of in Houston including Principe, Los Rolex, and Tam y Tex, elaborating…
Contributor:
Castellanos, Vladimir - Rodriguez, Roberto, III
Date:2022-12-12
Audio Recording
Juan Trevino interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Juan Trevino about his life and career as a musician. Trevino talks about growing up with his brothers in Mexico and starting to play instruments from a young age, which continued once his family moved to Houston when he was around 10 years old. Once in Houston, Juan and a few of his brothers formed a tropical band which became known…
Contributor:
Trevino, Juan - Rodriguez, Roberto, III
Date:2022-12-19
Film, Video
Roberto Rodriguez interview conducted by Angel Quesada
Accordion player Roberto Rodriguez III recounts the beginnings of his career, and how he came to play the instrument. He speaks about the beginning of his collaboration with musician Nick Gaitan (a bassist) dating to their meeting while attending the University of Houston. He discusses his father and the relationship his father had with Tejano music. He delves further into the beginning of his…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Quesada, José Angel
Date:2022-12-20
Audio Recording
Rodrigo "Rigo" Gonzalez interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Rodrigo "Rigo" Gonzalez about his upbringing and how it influenced his career as a musician and teacher. Rigo first talks about growing up in a family of migrant workers and being exposed to Mexican music through his family's band and his grandfather organizing gigs at cantinas. Rigo recounts that he first helped set up equipment and eventually began playing music at…
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Gonzalez, Rigo
Date:2022-12-21
Audio Recording
Johnny Morris interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez
Roberto Rodriguez interviews Johnny Morris about his upbringing and how that led to him becoming a Tejano performance dancer. Johnny discusses going to concerts with his family and learning dance styles from Tejano shows and dancing at family parties. Johnny explains the differences between California and Texas style dance, how he developed his personal style, and also his time working with The Hometown Boys.
Contributor:
Rodriguez, Roberto, III - Morris, Johnny
Audio RecordingMike Ramirez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Isaac Rodriguez interviews Mike Ramirez, a drummer in multiple conjunto bands about his life and path to becoming a conjunto musician and the impact music has had on his life. Mike talks about his parents moving the family to Houston for work when he was a child, the experience of growing up in the Denver Harbor neighborhood and how his parents influenced his early…
Audio RecordingJuan Carlos Villegas interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez III interviews Juan Carlos Villegas (better known as Carlos) about his life and musical career as a Tejano vocalist. Carlos discusses his family’s origins in Jalisco, Mexico, and his experiences of growing up and living in Houston, since 1974. As a child, Carlos saw his uncle perform as a mariachi singer. He subsequently joined a mariachi group at Ripley House (a local…
Audio RecordingLupe Olivarez, Jr. interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Isaac Rodriguez interviews Lupe Olivarez, a long-time musician, festival coordinator, producer and promoter in the Houston music scene, Lupe recounts several details of his life story -- such as his relocation to Houston from LA, his initial exposure to music thanks to his uncle in Tijuana, and the process of becoming a musician himself. Lupe goes on to discuss his career as a musician,…
Audio RecordingJose Martinez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Isaac Rodriguez interviews José Martinez, a career drummer who has played in several conjunto and Tejano bands over the course of his career. José discusses his childhood in the northside of Houston and how he became involved with music from a young age, joining his father's conjunto band around the age of ten. José also talks about the different bands and artists he has…
Audio RecordingRay Cortez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Isaac Rodriguez interviews Ray Cortez, a drummer who has been playing for Houston Tejano bands for the past thirty years. In this interview Ray Cortez talks about learning music from his brothers and playing in his father’s conjunto band and his father’s friend’s band as a child. He talks about how he came to play with different bands throughout his youth and his experience…
Audio RecordingJulian Gonzalez Interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Julian Gonzalez, Jr., the current accordion player for the band La Fiebre. Julian recounts his life story, emphasizing his mother's influence on his musical tastes He talks about teaching himself to play accordion in 1995 after graduating from high school, meeting Ricky Veliz a year later and forming the band Complejo. The interview goes on to explore Julian's time touring with…
Audio RecordingSarge Salas interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Isaac Rodriguez interviews Jose Sergio "Sarge" Salas, a veteran Tejano DJ and drummer who has played with Houston's Powerhouse Avizo for the past 30 years. Sarge talks about growing up on the south side of Austin and living and performing with a physical disability, his father's orchestra and different styles of Tejano drumming. He also talks about different artists and bands he has recorded…
Audio RecordingRalph Garcia interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Three-part interview with Ralph Garcia, a Tejano musician and keyboardist. Ralph discusses growing up in Houston, starting to play music at an early age and joining his father's conjunto group, Los Arrieros, as the bass player at the age of 13. He talks about Tejano being peripheral to popular culture in the 1970s, then booming in the mid-80s. He notes the different bands he…
Audio RecordingLuis Ramirez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Interview with Luis Ramirez, a member of the band Latin Express. Luis talks about singing from an early age, and winning a talent show at age 13, which gained the attention of several bands. He goes on to talk about his work as a touring musician, moving to Houston from Victoria, Texas at age 15, and the segregation of musical styles in the two…
Film, VideoLa Fiebre performance recorded by Angel Quesada La Fiebre performing at Discovery Green, September 25, 2022.
Audio RecordingJohn Barraza interview conducted by Nick Gaitan Nick Gaitan interviews John Barraza, a musician, songwriter and guitarist from the West End of Houston. John talks about being raised in a family of artists, being encouraged to pursue music and starting to play in his uncle's Tejano band as a teenager. He reflects on the evolution of the Tejano industry and how the sound has changed over the years, his place within…
Audio RecordingVick "Nash" Espinoza interview conducted by Nick Gaitan Nick Gaitan interviews Vick "Nash" Espinoza, a musician, songwriter and guitarist based in Houston. Vick talks about being raised in a family of accordion players and how that has informed his musical upbringing. He discusses different bands and types of music he has been involved with, ranging from conjunto to rock and roll to country over the course of his career. He also discusses…
Audio RecordingAlbert Chavarria Interview conducted by Nick Gaitan Nick Gaitan interviews Albert Chavarria, a songwriter, bassist and keyboardist from Houston. Chavarria talks about listening to Rush, Black Sabbath and other rock music while growing up, as well as the musical influence of his family members which led him to learn guitar and then keyboards. Chavarria goes on to discuss different facets of his musical career including recording at Nacho Garza's studio, getting…
Audio RecordingGuillermo Memo Villarreal interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Guillermo "Memo" Villarreal, owner of Memo's Record shop. In this interview Memo discusses his father's career as an accordion player in Tamaulipas, Mexico, how his father's generation of musicians were shaping what would become known as Tejano and norteño music. His father's music largely influenced Memo's love of music, paving the way for his eventual career as a band and dance…
Audio RecordingMark Pinon interview conducted by Nick Gaitan Nick Gaitan interviews Mark Pinon, a drummer who discusses his upbringing in Magnolia Park, in east Houston, and how his older brother and neighbor influenced him to start a band called The Wonders. He discusses the trials and tribulations of playing in a band, and the different musicians he has worked with and been influenced by, over the years.
Audio RecordingBobby Gonzalez interview conducted by Isaac Rodriguez Isaac Rodriguez interviews Bobby Gonzalez, a Houston native musician who discusses coming up in the 1960s Chicano music scene while in high school and joining different bands starting at the age of 15. Gonzalez talks about different Texas record labels such as Tear Drop Records, for whom he recorded, and touring as well as performing at the Pan American Ballroom. He ends by reflecting…
Audio RecordingTimothy Rios and Moe Gutierrez interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Timothy Rios, a former member of the band Latin Image and Joe Moses "Moe" Gutierrez, an original member of Latin Image. Moe begins by talking about moving to Houston and getting interested in music when he was in the 5th grade and continuing into high school when he was able to buy a keyboard and join the band which eventually became…
Audio RecordingNestor Aguilar interview conducted by Nick Gaitan Nick Gaitan interviews Nestor Aguilar who reflects on growing up in the Heights neighborhood of Houston, drawing musical influences from his family, in particular his aunt and his dad. He also notes how his musical style was influenced by rock music and radio DJs. He also talks about Latinos in the rock scene, in particular, the Texas punk scene, and his time as a…
Audio RecordingArmando Sanchez interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Armando Sanchez about his career as a Tejano music distributor starting in the 1980s. He discusses working with big corporate accounts across the country and eventually creating his own record label, South Central Music Distribution, in 2002. Sanchez also talks about the resurgence of vinyl records and the communal experience tied to listening to records.
Film, VideoAvizo performance recorded by Angel Quesada Avizo performing live at Discovery Green, November 27, 2022: Welcome and introduction by Lala from Houston; Isaac Rodriguez talks about the Tejas Got Soul project and introduces the band. Avizo plays 15 songs including several medleys. Songs 16 and 17 are songs by Rocky Gil and the Bishops. Songs 18 and 19 are tribute songs by Neto Perez. Songs 20-21 are by Big Lu.…
Audio RecordingVladimir Castellanos interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Vladimir Castellanos about being interested in music from a young age, learning first how to play the Columbian harp then the keyboard, piano accordion and the guitar. This interest in music led to Castellanos pursuing a career in music, he discusses the various bands he has been a part of in Houston including Principe, Los Rolex, and Tam y Tex, elaborating…
Audio RecordingJuan Trevino interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Juan Trevino about his life and career as a musician. Trevino talks about growing up with his brothers in Mexico and starting to play instruments from a young age, which continued once his family moved to Houston when he was around 10 years old. Once in Houston, Juan and a few of his brothers formed a tropical band which became known…
Film, VideoRoberto Rodriguez interview conducted by Angel Quesada Accordion player Roberto Rodriguez III recounts the beginnings of his career, and how he came to play the instrument. He speaks about the beginning of his collaboration with musician Nick Gaitan (a bassist) dating to their meeting while attending the University of Houston. He discusses his father and the relationship his father had with Tejano music. He delves further into the beginning of his…
Audio RecordingRodrigo "Rigo" Gonzalez interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Rodrigo "Rigo" Gonzalez about his upbringing and how it influenced his career as a musician and teacher. Rigo first talks about growing up in a family of migrant workers and being exposed to Mexican music through his family's band and his grandfather organizing gigs at cantinas. Rigo recounts that he first helped set up equipment and eventually began playing music at…
Audio RecordingJohnny Morris interview conducted by Roberto Rodriguez Roberto Rodriguez interviews Johnny Morris about his upbringing and how that led to him becoming a Tejano performance dancer. Johnny discusses going to concerts with his family and learning dance styles from Tejano shows and dancing at family parties. Johnny explains the differences between California and Texas style dance, how he developed his personal style, and also his time working with The Hometown Boys.