Latino artists make their way into American country music

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1. The topic to highlight: Latin country music

With iconography on the Rio Grande, driving down an isolated road while praying in Spanish and watching the mesas go by is how Latino artists from the United States have recently forayed into country music.

General panorama

: This musical genre typical of places like Nashville, historically dominated by non-Hispanic white artists, has been gaining popularity among US Latinos.

• Between 2006 and 2016, Hispanic fans of this type of music increased by 25%, while non-Hispanic whites grew only 7%, according to the Country Music Association.

• Latino country fans are also helping to sell out country concerts in El Paso or Houston, Texas.

More details:

Notable country artists include Valerie Ponzio, from El Paso, and Frank Ray, from Deming, New Mexico.

• Kat & Alex (she is Cuban-American and he is Puerto Rican) are a couple and sing as a duo.

  Its bilingual melodies and lyrics are about family or looking for love in a bar.

Valerie Ponzio in 2022 and Frank Ray in 2023Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT (left) and Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images (right)

Yes, but

: Latin American country artists are still a small fraction of all singers in the genre, and thus far have less airplay on the radio.

However, several of these artists

have built a following outside of radio, taking advantage of music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

• For example, the song

  Country'd Look Good On You

  by Frank Ray has been played more than six million times on Spotify since its release in 2021.

In her own words

: "I grew up during the pop-country diva boom of the 2000s: Shania Twain and The Chicks. When I was going through a time of pain, I just wanted to listen to country music," Ponzio tells Axios Latino. .

• Ponzio was on the twelfth season of

  The Voice,

  where she got all the judges (then Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton) to turn their chairs around to recruit her.

• "Sometimes in country music there are certain treats that make you feel like you don't belong. But when I get up on a stage and play my country music there, my country-type

  cover

  of Selena, people love it," says Ponzio.

Ray says that during his adolescence

he listened to

constantly playing country music and was drawn to the stories of the lyrics.

• He decided to dedicate himself fully to this music after a decade working as a police officer in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

• "When we're on stage we do put in touches of Latin influence and stuff," says Ray, referring to the mariachi and ranchera genres, which have similarities to country and are popular outside the United States.

  "But what surprises people the most is that we can play country music and really do it justice. When they discover that is when the fun begins," he adds.

2. 👩🏽‍🍳 Cooking inclusion with the James Beard

This year there are several Latino finalists for one of the most important gastronomic awards in the United States.

In an interview, they say that it is a sign of a greater openness to diverse cuisines.

Why It Matters

: The James Beard Foundation's annual awards are considered the Oscars of the culinary world, but the accolades have faced criticism over a lack of diversity.

• This year, at least 18 Latinos are finalists.

[Read our interview with the Latino finalists for the James Beard] 

What to know

: The five finalists in each category were announced on March 29.

They include Erik Ramírez, a Peruvian American based in New York, for Outstanding Chef and a Kansas City, Missouri, tortilla shop for Outstanding Bakery.

• Best regional chef nominees include Venezuelan-American Gregory León, who runs Amilinda in Milwaukee, Wisconsin;

  Natalia Vallejo for Cocina Al Fondo in San Juan (she is the first Puerto Rican finalist in the history of the awards);

  and the Mexican Dionicio Jiménez for his La Martina cantina in Philadelphia.

• Cora Cora, a Peruvian restaurant run by sisters Grecia and Macarena Ludena, is competing in the Outstanding Restaurant category.

Gregory León, Macarena and Grecia Ludena and Erik Ramirez.

Photos: Craig Ster;

courtesy of Cora Cora;

Matthew Eisman/Getty Images for Housing Works

Big Picture

: The majority of award winners through at least 2018 had been non-Hispanic white men, and less than a quarter of all nominees had been people of color, according to an analysis by media company MIC.

• But in 2020 and 2021 the foundation suspended its awards due to the impact of the pandemic on restaurants and to audit biases in its nomination process.

  It then adjusted its processes, setting a goal that by the end of this year half of its judges will be black, Asian, Latino or indigenous people.

To watch out for

: Winners will be announced on June 5th.

3. 🎵Gasoline for the Library of Congress

Daddy Yankee's hit

as well as the first mariachi music records in the United States and Irene Cara's song

are now immortal works: this week they were among the 25 pieces of music added to the Library of Congress Records Preservation Registry .

'Gasolina' opened a world gap for reggaeton.

Almost 20 years later, he makes history in the US Congress.

April 13, 202301:24

News Momentum

: To qualify, headlines must be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and more than 10 years old.

• The songs

  Gasolina

  and

  Flashdance

  entered after being nominated by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which seeks better representation of Latino artists in the library's records, as it has also promoted Latino films for film preservation lists.

• Gasolina

  is the first reggaeton song to enter the record.

In their own words

: “Being selected adds these innovative artist voices to the cultural archive in recognition of the lasting impact they have had on American culture,” Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democratic representative and member of the Hispanic caucus, said in a statement.

To know

: The library received more than 1,100 nominations for this year's list.

• Among the other recordings that made the list are Madonna's

  songs

  Like a Virgin ;

  All I want for Christmas is you

  by Mariah Carey and the theme from Super Mario Bros.

4. Tribute to Chicana historian

Cynthia Orozco, one of the first people to dedicate herself to Chicana/o studies, was honored with the lifetime achievement award from the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS).

News Momentum

: Orozco, who received the award this month in Denver, was recognized for his books on leading Mexican-Americans in the fight for civil rights and for his years teaching.

Historian Cynthia Orozco Courtesy

Details

: Orozco is the author of the biographies

, about one of the founders of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and

.

• Orozco was one of the first wave of Chicano studies scholars, a group of scholars who graduated from undergraduate and graduate degrees in the 1970s with a focus on the histories of Latino Americans.

• The woman born to Mexican immigrants is a professor of history and humanities at Eastern New Mexico University.

In his own words

: "In those days everything was very masculine, it was thought only as Chicano studies and not about Chicanas. It was very heteronormative as well. It was very difficult," Orozco said of the beginnings of the academic branch during the award ceremony.

• That motivated her, along with other Mexican-American lawyers, to form the Hispanic Studies Caucus at NACCS.

  From there they have worked to recruit more Latinas to the academic world.

5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean

1. Colombia, Panama and the United States

reached a joint agreement this week to try to regulate the flow of people migrating through the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle area through which 250,000 people crossed last year.

• The agreement, brief in details, provides for a program of at least two months to find in a coordinated manner "new legal and flexible ways to reduce irregular migration" and to establish plans to reduce poverty and strengthen resilience in the border communities of Colombia and Panama.

This is the possible sentence that the official accused of the fire in Ciudad Juárez will face

April 13, 202301:48

2. The Mexican Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal investigation

against the director of the National Institute of Migration (INM), Francisco Garduño.

He is the highest-ranking person to be indicted for the deaths of 40 people in a fire at a Ciudad Juárez immigration detention center.

• Garduño faces an accusation of improper exercise of public service over reports that guards at the INM facilities left people locked in cells on fire.

• Garduño has not ruled on the accusation, which could mean eight years in prison, but the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said that Garduño will remain in office until the investigation ends.

Pachanga Thursday

Today we celebrate Jenny Hernandez, who wrote to tell us that this May she will graduate from the City University of New York (CUNY) with a degree in economics.

Photo courtesy.

Background illustration by Natalie Peeples/Axios

• She is the first woman in her family to graduate from college.

  She says she wants to find a career where she can give back "to the

  Latinx

  diaspora ."

• We can't wait to see the amazing things you'll do next, Jenny!

Thanks for reading us!

We return on Tuesday.

If you want to share your experiences or send us suggestions and comments, send an email to axioslatino@axios.com.

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