The Story of a Mexican American Musical Icon

BOOK REVIEW

by Adrian Perez

     Whether you’re Latino or not, if you enjoy Tex-Mex music, you’ve probably heard of Little Joe Y La Familia, the Grammy Award winning band that fused traditional Mexican, salsa, rock and roll, jazz and country western music to create a new revolutionary sound.  Initially established as Little Joe and the Latinaires in the early 1960s, the band’s image and sound changed over the years, leading to a name change as well to Little Joe Y La Familia.  Fronted by Jose Maria (Little Joe) Hernandez and his younger brother Juan (Johnny) Hernandez, the band offered a powerful sound with lead vocals and harmonics that resulted in a string of hits.  The combined musical and business talents of the brothers catapulted them from the cotton fields of Texas to international music stages where tens of thousands of fans cheered their performances.  Having reached a success of legendary status, what happened that split this musical dynamic duo?

     Many have said that Little Joe Y La Familia reached their musical peek in the late 1970s with their international mega hit “Las Nubes,” when rumors started about the band breaking up.  Some believed it was jealousy among siblings that led to the band’s fall, while others thought it was excessive use of illicit drugs.  Now, through the autobiography “The Cotton Picker – An Odyssey” by Johnny Hernandez, the myths and rumors of the Band’s breakup are told.

     This well written book takes the reader through several decades from the hardship of being born and raised in central Texas where many Mexican American families followed the cotton-picking season, through the pressures and excesses of being a musical star.  Johnny’s depiction of growing up in Temple, Texas, as a cotton-picker, will resonate with many former farmworkers whose working days usually started with the smell of fresh made flour tortillas.  Others will quickly relate to the experience of going to public school and facing a combination of discrimination and bullying, forcing Mexican Americans to band together for protection and survival.  However, perhaps it's Johnny’s telling of the respect and love he had for his family and friends as a preteen, a teenager and as an adult that makes his story extra unique.

     As he tells it, singing is what kept Johnny going when working the cotton fields during Texas’ hot and humid summers.  He often daydreamed that someday he would be performing on a stage in front of hundreds of cheering fans.  That dream almost did not become a reality because of Johnny's rebellious tendencies, which got him into legal trouble, had him drop out of school, and marry by age 16.  It was after getting married that Johnny began to learn the hard lessons of life, taking on various jobs to earn a living for him and his wife. 

     There were many people who entered Johnny’s life that slowly helped turn him around from his rebellious ways.  However, none was more influential than his brother Jesse, who had convinced Little Joe to make Johnny a part of Little Joe and the Latinaires.  It was brilliant move by Jesse, who was convinced the group was headed to stardom.  After recording their first major hit, “Por Un Amor,” Little Joe, Johnny and the Latinaires also hit the road for performances across Texas.  Unfortunately, Jesse was killed in a car accident before he could see his brothers reach the heights of their musical success.

     After releasing a string of hit songs, Little Joe moved the band to California where they discovered new musical sounds and performed with popular acts like MALO and Tower of Power.  During the late 60s and early 70s, the look and feel of the band fit in with the sounds and styles being created by Bay Area bands, winning over thousands of new fans, especially when they broke out with Tex-Mex music.  Johnny was also getting more solo singing opportunities, not only recording, but writing as well.  During this time, he also met and became friends with many Chicano music legends like Rick Stevens and Richard Bean.

     Being apart for lengths of time from his family, put a tremendous strain on Johnny’s marriage, resulting in his first divorce.  It was also around this time that Johnny met Pat, a beautiful Mexican American girl from Modesto, California, who became his second wife, and as Johnny declares, the true love of his life.  When the band moved back to Texas, Johnny took Pat with him and started a life together, but not everything was honey and roses.  Suddenly, Johnny began to feel anger directed at him by Little Joe, an anger that would determine the fate of Johnny's musical future and the Band's direction.

     “The Cotton Picker – An Odyssey” is a series of well-told stories by Johnny Hernandez who presents them in the form of a diary or journal, sharing the hardships and successes he achieved, as well as missed opportunities.  This book captures the realities of growing up poor in Texas where unfairness and discrimination are as common as compassion and equality, and where life is learned in the streets.  Johnny’s detailed description of his adventures, including a sudden trip to Veracruz Mexico, gives the reader the sense of being in the rider’s seat on a very unique, spur of the moment trip.  This book is easy, fun and interesting to read, but it’s the story telling of musical historical events that makes Johnny Hernandez’ “The Cotton Picker – An Odyssey” a must-have book.

Available at:  AMAZON; BARNES AND NOBLE; TOWER BOOKS.

 

Sir Doug Sahm: Saving Knight of Tex-Mex

When Tex-Mex music needed a knight in shining armor, Sir Douglas Sahm showed up
By Adrian Perez, Vida de Oro 

There have been many stories told about rock’n roll heroes that influenced music, like Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and even the Beatles.  However, few have written or even heard of Douglas Wayne Sahm (pronounced saw-mm), a White Tejano (Texan) who not only influenced music worldwide, but brought Tejano (Tex-Mex) music to mainstream America and the world.  His story goes something like this:

Huey P. Meaux

In 1962, Huey P. Meaux was a well-known and successful music producer with two extremely popular musical acts, Barbara Lynn (“You’ll Lose A Good Thing”) and Dale And Grace (“I’m Gonna Leave It All Up To You”).   So when a young White male musician/singer named Douglas Sahm asked Meaux to produce his music, Meaux said no. 

Sahm, an accomplished musical child prodigy, had already performed at the Grand Ol’ Opry in Nashville when he was in junior high.  Having written and recorded his own material, and opened for the famous British group, the Dave Clark Five, Sahm felt he was ready to reach the next level.  But Meaux, the top producer in South Texas, felt he didn’t need another musical act, or at least not until an interesting thing happened in 1964 that changed the course of music worldwide.

It’s been said that stress can either break a person or make them a genius, and in Meaux’s case, it was genius.  His stress arrived in early 1964 in the form of an event called “Beatlemania,” a rock’n roll paradigm shift, making the music he produced almost obsolete.  Feeling frustrated that kids weren’t listening to his music, Meaux locked himself up in a hotel room in San Antonio with a bottle of wine, a record player, and a crate filled with Beatle records.  He was determined to break the secret of Beatle music, and in 1965, Meaux discovered that secret. 

Little Doug Sahm

Douglas Wayne Sahm, who initially went by “Little Doug Sahm,” was born November 6, 1941, in San Antonio, Texas, and could play the steel guitar, mandolin and fiddle by age five.  It was at KMAC, a radio station in San Antonio, where the five-year old got his first public exposure.  Within two years his popularity grew especially after performing with country western icon Hank Williams, Sr., who died just two weeks after introducing Little Doug Sahm to an Austin, Texas audience.

“At about twelve or thirteen years old, my neighbor, Homer Callahan, a red-headed Irishman who loved to fight and listen to Howlin’ Wolf, would bring over these great 45’s with colorful labels like Excello, Atlantic, and specialty, and dudes like Lonesome Sundown, Jimmy reed, and Fats Domino,” wrote Sahm some years later.  “My mother, bless her soul, couldn’t understand the profound effect these records had on her White son who was growing up fast in the predominantly Black section of San Antone….”

Douglas Wayne Sahm

By age 11, Sahm had recorded a couple of songs for Sarg Records and in high school he was the front man for the Pharaohs, the Dell-Kings and the Markays, which was the band that opened for the Dave Clark Five.  It was at that show where he met Augie Meyers, a guitar and piano player who headed the band The Goldens.  The son of a grocer in San Antonio, Meyers had polio as a child and found playing guitar and piano as a way to keep his hands mobile.  The meeting of the two musicians was not a coincidence, but fate.

Locked in the hotel room Meaux figured out the Beatles musical secret, it had a Cajun two-step beat that resonated well with teens.  He called Sahm and told him to grow his hair long, put a band together and write a song with a Cajun two-step beat.  Sahm moved quickly, getting his new friend Augie Meyers and combining members of both their bands and formed “The Sir Douglas Quintet,” a brilliant name idea by Meaux to ride the British invasion wave.

Sir Douglas Quintet

The Sir Douglas Quintet was comprised of Sahm, Meyers, Jack Barber, Frank Morin and Johnny Perez.  They got mop-tops, dressed and acted like the Beatles on stage, took fun photos and released their first single “She’s About A Mover” in 1965, which had a slight take on the Beatles hit “She’s A Woman.” 

Sahm and the Quintet were off to a strong start, hitting the charts in the U.S. and U.K. with several hits, but they could not hide their Tejano feel and sound.  The New York Times’ John Pareles wrote, “Despite the band’s British fashion sense, the music is unmistakably Tex Mex.”  Their cover was fully blown by fellow Tejano and teen sensation Trini Lopez on the TV musical program “Hullaballoo” when he told the audience they were fellow Texans.

The mid-1960’s also experienced the growth in use of drugs, like marijuana and LSD by many top musicians and musical groups, and in 1966 Sahm was arrested for possession of marijuana at the Corpus Christi, Texas airport.  His arrest led to the end of the Quintet especially after receiving much negative media attention from a still conservative, bible-belt state of Texas.  Feeling the heat, Sahm moved to San Francisco to enjoy a life among the Hippies, adopting a new way of life. 

Doug Sahm and his son Shawn

Sahm’s new beginning on the west coast also gave him national attention after he and his 3-year old son Shawn graced the cover of the number one music and underground newspaper, Rolling Stone with the featured story headline “Dispossessed Men and Mothers of Texas.”  It was the 23^rd issue of Rolling Stone from December 1968, sandwiched between the 22^nd issue featuring Frank Zappa on the cover and the24th issue featuring Jimi Hendrix.  Sahm made San Francisco, his home, adopting the vocabulary and forming a new band called “The Honkey Blues Band.” Unsatisfied with limited club success, he reached back to his roots and reformed the Sir Douglas Quintet, reconnecting with his friend Augie Meyers.  In 1968 they recorded an album featuring the hit “Mendocino,” staying true to their staple Tex-Mex sound. 

After five years in San Francisco, Sahm returned to Texas with Rolling Stone again giving him national coverage by placing him on the cover of their 86^th issue released July 8, 1971, with the headline, “Sir Douglas Goes Home.”  The cover along with a new album entitled “The Return of Douglas Saldaña” signaled to the many Texans who had expatriated themselves that it was ok to return to Texas.  

Bob Dylan and Doug Sahm

Once home, he landed a contract with Atlantic Records allowing him to work on some solo material that featured Bob Dylan, Dr. John, David Bromberg and his friend, Flaco Jimenez on a project called “Doug Sahm and Band.”  He pushed his career further by becoming a session musician for several performers and bands, including The Grateful Dead.  He even dabbled in film, having minor roles in the movies “Cisco Pike” with Kris Kristofferson, and in George Lucas’ “More American Graffiti.” 

Unfortunately, his elusive style began to take its toll as musicians and record executives began to notice Sahm’s high level of independence.  One moment he’s in Austin, the next in San Francisco, or Vancouver.  He had no telephone and could only be reached at a phone number in a hippie-style bar in Austin.  By 1978, his contract with Atlantic ended, so he and Meyers left the states for Scandinavia.

In Europe, Sahm and Meyers where signed with Swedish label “Sonet,” producing the 1980’s platinum singe “Meet Me In Stockholm.”  It registered as one of the largest selling records in Scandinavia. 

“We were having riots on stage,” Sahm once reported.  “Swedish chicks (were) running up on stage, knocking me over, ripping my clothes.”

Although they were enjoying much success in Scandinavia, in 1985 Sahm was involved in an accident, and event he saw as a sign to leave Europe.  So he left for Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada launching a band called “The Formerly Brothers,” recording a country and Cajun album that won him a Juno Award, Canada’s equivalent of a Grammy.  But, missing his native Texas, he moved back to Texas, immediately touring with blues singer Angela Strehli and his friend Flaco Jimenez as San Antone’s Texas R&B Revue.

The Texas Tornados

In 1988, an English-American super-group, “The Traveling Wilburys,” were taking Europe and the U.S. by storm.  The group, comprised of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Jim Keltner, recorded an album that received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album and performed at sold-out concerts worldwide.  Not to be outdone, Sahm suggested to Cameron Randle, of Arista Texas label, that he wanted to do something similar for Tex-Mex music.  Getting the green light from Randle, Sahm contacted his old friends to join him, including:  Augie Meyers on keyboard and vocals; Sir Douglas Quintet backup singer and father of conjunto music Flaco Jimenez; and the legendary singer/songwriter Freddy Fender on guitar.  Together they became “The Texas Tornados.”

The band name was not something new for Sahm.  When he worked on his solo project, he released music under the name Sir Doug and the Texas Tornados, but it had limited success.  With the new Texas Tornados, they blended their unique styles of Tex-Mex and Country Rock, bringing a fresh, special and enjoyable sound that was brilliantly captured in their 1990 album of the same title and released in Spanish and English.  It also gave Tex-Mex music a much needed infusion, becoming popular once again across the nation. 

The first major hit “Hey Baby Que Paso,” led them to win a Grammy Award in 1990 for “Best Mexican/American Performance.”  Their new found success was quick, and were invited to perform for President Bill Clinton’s Inauguration, the Montreaux Jazz Festival and even David Letterman had them on his December 18, 1990 show featuring the Texas Tornados as the house band with Paul Schaffer.  But perhaps none of their performances of the time was captured as brilliantly as their 1990 appearance on PBS’ Austin CityLimits, which is available on DVD and also resulted in a 2005 album, “Live From Austin.” 

Sir Doug Sahm

The Texas Tornados catapulted the four performers back into the limelight, but this time reaching a new generation.  Their shows were like their music, catchy, fun, and reminiscent of an era gone by.  This success convinced Sahm to start his own label in 1999, Tornado Records, where he could record his own music and that of the Tornados.  But, life has a tendency to bring things to a tragic end.

On November 8, 1999, while vacationing in Taos, New Mexico, Sir Doug Sahm died of a heart attack at age 58, less than a year before the scheduled release of his first solo album, “The Return of Wayne Douglas.”  The shocking news of his death led to what many said would be the end of the Texas Tornados.  

Freddy Fender

On October 14, 2006, the band was dealt another shocking blow as Freddy Fender (El Bebop Kid) died of lung cancer at age 69.   It appeared the Texas Tornados were no more.

But great music never really dies, and in 2010 Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez were joined by Doug’s son, Shawn to record several previously unreleased vocal performance by Freddy Fender and a song by Sir Doug in an album entitled “Esta Bueno.”

The Texas Tornados, with Shawn

Commenting on the album, Flaco Jimenez said, “The grove is back!” 

NOTE:  Tornado Flaco Jimenez will be performing at the 2012 Tejano Music Festival in Sacramento, California, on Labor Day weekend, August 31 through September 2, 2012.

A Latino jazz musician who changed Tejano music

A Latino jazz musician who changed Tejano music
By Adrian Perez, Publisher

Publisher's Note:  On January 29, 2011, Tony "Ham" Guerrero passed away, soon after publishing this article.  We dedicate it his honor and invite you to see his tribute video by clicking HERE.

In the late 1940’s, there were no radio stations dedicated to playing music for the thousands of Mexican Americans living along the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  Instead, there were many talented musicians and performers catering to this burgeoning population, playing at a variety of venues.  Coupled with poor race relations between Mexicans and Anglos there existed a clear divide where each community lived, equivalent to that of the African Americans.  This segregation created an environment for Mexican Americans to develop their own traditions, including style of language, food preparation, and even music.  The development of this subculture was especially evident in South Texas, "el valle," a place where the flour tortilla and Tejano music were born.

According to Texas historian Dominic G. Martinez, who wrote the history of Tejano music for the “Tejano Roots” website, the first Tejano music recordings were made in 1946 by Ideal Records, a recording company launched by Armando Marroquín of Alice, Texas.  But, it wasn’t until the late 1960’s that Tejano music received critical acclaim and grew in popularity.

The 1960’s saw the explosion of Tejano music due to the commercial viability of Sonny and The Sunliners and Little Joe and the Latinaires.  But it was a young jazz musician, composer from San Angelo, Texas whose musical talent catapulted the mini-orchestra sound of Tejano music into an international sound.

Born in 1944, Tony Guerrero was 8 years old when his grandparents bought him a coronet (like a trumpet) and set him up with private lessons.  He practiced constantly, to the point where neighbors complained about his late night and early morning playing.  By age 16, Tony was playing trumpet with a local dance band and had already received numerous awards for his musical talent.  At 18, Tony began touring the U.S. and Canada with Johnny Long and his Orchestra, a band originally from New York.

Upon graduating from high school, Tony attended the famed Berklee School of Jazz in Boston, where he studied jazz by day and learned salsa music by night. His diverse abilities and musical skills led Tony to join the popular Tejano band “Little Joe and the Latinaires” in 1968, where he quickly became the band’s musical director.

Revising the original sound of Little Joe and the Latinaires to incorporate jazz chord progressions required adding talented musicians who could meet the challenge.  Tony brought in two of his childhood friends, and well renowned Latino jazz musicians, Joe Gallardo and Luis Gasca.  Thus, the modern Tejano orchestra sound of “polkas” with a jazz chord progression was born and Little Joe and the Latinaires became Little Joe y La Familia, with their hit song, "Las Nubes," becoming a national Chicano anthem.

As is the case with many talented musicians, creative differences occurred between Tony and Little Joe, with both eventually going their separate directions after three years of playing together.  Hungry to keep the evolution of this new Tejano sound going, Tony along with the rest of “La Familia” founded a new band in 1973 and dubbed it “Tortilla Factory.”  Needing a front man, Tony remembered an African American drummer/singer who had sat in with Little Joe y La Familia a few times by the name of Bobby Butler, aka “El Charro Negro.”  He called Bobby and suddenly, the Tortilla Factory sound was born.

Bobby was born in Arkansas and by age 7 was picking cotton along side of Mexican laborers who exposed him to Spanish songs and music, which he thoroughly enjoyed.  He studied music for two years at the University of Arkansas before moving to St. Louis, Missouri to help his mother.  While in St. Louis, Bobby played with a rhythm and blues band called the “Ecuadors,” a stand-in band at Chuck Berry’s nightclub.  A few years later, Bobby moved to Temple, Texas where the word got out that there was a new drummer/singer in town.

One weekend, the Latinaires’ drummer was unable to perform and they needed an experienced replacement.  They called Bobby who jumped at the opportunity of playing the Mexican songs he had heard as a child.  He developed a friendship with the band and one day told them he could sing “La Enorme Distancia,” which nobody believed him, until one night he sang it for them.  From that moment on, he was dubbed “El Charro Negro” and was allowed to sing some of the songs with the band.

After agreeing to sing for Tortilla Factory, the legacy of El Charro Negro was extended to international status as their first album was released to critical and public acceptance in 1973.  Tortilla Factory itself had the appearance of typical Chicano bands that were exploding out of the San Francisco music seen - hip.  But it was their sound that led them to be one of the most sought after bands of the 1970’s in Texas, California, Illinois and other parts of the U.S.  Tortilla Factory was not only leaving their mark, but also making history by spearheading the growth of Tejano music into different regions of the nation. 

Their first album, simply entitled “Tortilla Factory,” carried three songs, “Somos Novios” “El Papalote” and “La Malaguena,” that established the band as a force with a legendary sound.  Their version of La Malaguena was and continues to be so impressive yet complex, that it is now taught in music theory classes at universities across the nation.  Their unique blend of rock and “polka” jazz chord progressions led Tortilla Factory to be nominated for a Grammy and in 2006, inducted into the Tejano Music Hall of Fame.

Today, Tony Ham Guerrero, his son Alfredo Antonio, and Bobby “El Charro Negro” Butler have resurrected Tortilla Factory with a sound very reminiscent of the original 1973 band.  Their new CD “Tortilla Factory and All That Jazz” is refreshing and filled with the big band Tejano sound that made them famous.  What’s even more amazing is listening to the distinct voices that fans everywhere will immediately recognize and know they are listening to the real artists and not stand-ins.  There is no question Tony Ham Guerrero through Tortilla Factory has helped evolve a unique powerhouse sound that has made Tejano music a distinct American sound.  By all accounts, he should be inducted into the American Music Hall of Fame.

Check out their new CD, “Tortilla Factory and All That Jazz."