Norteño Roots

By Lucas Holloway 

Local Music Journalist 

If you grew up in Texas, the last things you wanted to hear from outsiders were, “Does everyone ride horses there?” or “Do you all wear cowboy hats and boots?” Among others, the next question they’d ask you would be if everyone listened to country music. This question might make you think about your answer, do we? If you said “yes,” well, you would be wrong, but if you said “no,” you wouldn’t exactly be right either.  

One thing about us is that we have a very diverse musical tapestry throughout our state. Besides the slightly cliché yet factual presence of country music as we know it, whether to you that means George Strait or Zach Bryan, music exists here in many forms. To name a few, blues music spans across the entire Capital-region, even going as far as inspiring Texas specific subgenres like Texas flood. Zydeco music from Louisiana is danced to in the east, and hip-hop artists from Houston, like Paul Wall and Travis Scott are enjoyed across the world. To me, it is amazing that naming groups from the likes of Pantera and ZZ Top just barely scratch the surface of the rock scene here as well; but if this list of genres and artists feels evasive of the bigger picture of the Texas music culture, you would be correct. 

You couldn’t have Texan music in the way we know it without paying homage to the musical and cultural influences of Northern Mexico, especially with their influence on country music. 

I first became interested in norteño music after being exposed to it by a Spanish professor here at Texas State. Every week we had cultural discussions and analyzed various cultural heritages from Latin America and Spain as part of our credit requirements. During these assignments, I was exposed to artists from the corridos tumbados subgenre, a fusion of Northern Mexican regional music, and Hip-hop influences from the United States. I was surprised to realize that I knew most of these names from one place or another: Natanael Cano, Junior H, Peso Pluma, Xavi. The fact was, I could recognize this music, but I couldn’t place from where. This inspired me to learn more about norteño music and to discover why it seemed so familiar to me.  

I googled these artists and not only encountered the tumbados genre, but the history and songs of the original corridos genre within norteño music, corridos clásicas. Corrido is a traditional form of Mexican folk music that narrate the stories of historical events, legends, heroes, and outlaws. While their narrative lyrics are their defining characteristic, for me, I was immediately enamored by the instrumentation and virtuosic guitar playing. The genre uses a modified version of a twelve-string guitar with pairs of equally gauged strings as opposed to octaves on a standard twelve-string guitar, which gives it a powerful natural chorus effect. This guitar is affectionately named the requinto guitar, after the name of the introductory solo that it traditionally plays in the beginning of songs.

Alongside the requinto, the tololoche is a double bass that acts as the low end as well as a percussive element. Occasionally there will be drum kits as well, but they are less common. In classical corridos, the accordion is second only to the singer.  The accordion provides melodic richness and amplifies the narrative intensity, its underscores an important part of the regional Mexican identity. Two corridos artists, Chalino Sánchez and Beto Quintanilla stand out to me. Significant figures in the corrido tradition, they’re known for their authentic portrayals of life on the Mexican American border through distinct style and compelling storytelling. Their themes often address drug trafficking, violence, and social justice issues, resonating deeply with Mexican audiences. 

From a non-Mexican American point of view, I view Johnny Cash as the closest thing to an English-singing corridos artist. Cash talks about hardship and justice, and the tales of ordinary people experiencing incredible adversity. Aside from that, the bouncing baselines and instrumentation are akin to that of the corridos genre, with an emphasis on 7th chords and I-V structures. “I Walk the Line” and “Folsom Prison Blues” are similar to corridos songs in more ways than not. In many ways, Johnny Cash is a progenitor of the country genre due to his innovative musical style and enduring influence in the culture.

Lending credence to Cash’s influence, it is not only fair to link corridos to country music, but also to the entirety of music produced in Texas as a whole, by way of the presence of country elements throughout it. In hip-hop, narrative driven lyrics tell personal stories, reflecting regional identities and references to cultural nuances. The surgency of country influence in otherwise unconnected genres such as hip-hop are reminiscent of the themes of corridos music. From the likes of Lil Nas X, Beyonce, and Mexican OT, corridos music continues to inspire popular genres throughout the state today. 

In case you’ve made it this far without turning on some Beto Quintanilla or Los Tigres del Norte, I strongly recommend you give this genre a chance. With the popularity of corridos tumbados, we are truly living in a Mexican musical renaissance, and there is no greater time to seize the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the cultures of our southern neighbors, and give credit where credit is due.