Texicana Mamas sing about border, hope and more.
Superstars have something to say about politics — and life
In the runup to the 2020 elections, releasing an album of songs in English and Spanish that tell stories of the border and of walls, of hope and of the American dream, is an act of political defiance.
These are the themes of the debut album by The Texicana Mamas, three Latina singersongwriters raised in San Antonio who have found national, even international, success without turning their backs on their hometown.
But the album, performed by established stars Tish Hinojosa, Stephanie Urbina Jones and Patricia Vonne, also celebrates life, love, friendship and la cultura, with songs that borrow from genres ranging from corridos, conjunto and norteño to mariachi and ranchera. It will be released today.
We caught up with The Texicana Mamas via Zoom to talk about how they got together, comparisons to a similar, late’80s collaboration of female singers and the political message behind the album, the group’s first.
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
How well did you know one another before you became The Texicana Mamas?
Tish Hinojosa: (Laughs) Well, both Patricia and I went to Providence High School, but she was a few years behind me, so we didn’t know each other there.
Patricia Vonne: I met Tish in Norderstedt, Germany, while I was on tour. And although we had never really, really met in person, she joined me onstage and we were immediately, like, amigas de corazon (friends of the heart). I was floored she came to my show. I was like, “Tish Hinojosa’s in the house.”
TH: I’ve always loved Stephanie’s music, but we’d never been on stage together.
Stephanie Urbina Jones:
Patricia and I had played together a little bit. Like, “Hey, come and guest on my show.” I respected her rock ’n’ roll Latina vibe. And when I was growing up and in college, Tish was like Linda Ronstadt to me. She was in Austin, and she had a sponsorship, and she was this gorgeous Latina who had her image on the side of — was it a Corona truck?
TH: (Laughs) It was a Corona beer truck that delivered on Sixth Street.
How did the Texicana Mamas project come about?
PV: It was during my first trip to Nashville two years ago, and I knew Stephanie lived there. This was during Americana Fest, and I asked her if she was performing that weekend so I could jump up on stage and say I played Nashville.
She managed to get us booked
at the Bluebird Café for a singer-songwriter in the round show celebrating Latina and Latin heritage. We needed one more Latina because, well, they have rules at the Bluebird. So we texted Tish and asked if she was available. She texted back “I’m in.”
The performance was magical. The whole hour was us trading stories. And although we didn’t really know each other well, our stories mirrored our childhoods in San Antonio, our love of our heritage, how our family bond is No. 1 and our traditions.
What do you say to those who compare you three to the Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris collaboration back in the ’80s?
PV: That’s interesting. Dolly Parton was country, and Stephanie does this amazing “country with chile peppers” thing. I’m full-out rock ’n’ roll until the day I die. But my music is bilingual. Mexico meets all-american rock ’n’ roll. And with Tish and her amazing melding of so many genres, you put us all together and it’s explosive.
SJ: There’s something about the timbre of our voices. Sometimes you sing with people and it sounds good, but just OK. But on that first night, we naturally floated into moments on choruses. There’s something about the timbre of our voices that naturally fits together.
PV: Stephanie took the soprano, I took the alto, and then there was Tish, holding it all together. And it was just by feel and by what we hear. It was not rehearsed. We were locked and loaded.
What’s been happening since?
PV: We pooled our resources and started performing right away, playing theaters, performing arts centers. And then a year later we went back to Nashville and we recorded the first four songs on the album at Imagine Recordings.
SJ: Imagine is kind of amazing because they invite you to play at this studio where they actually pay you to record songs. There’s a live studio audience that pays so they can experience a live recording. I said to the girls, “Do y’all want to do it? We have nothing to lose because they’re gonna pay us to do this.”
And once we had those four songs it was like, “There’s really something here. Let’s keep it going.”
What songs did you record there?
PV: We did “Viva La
Patria” (“Long Live Our Homeland”), the first song Tish and I wrote together, so that was really exciting. It’s a patriotic song, but also a memorial to those who were killed in the El Paso shooting.
And then we did “Cancion del Mariachi” (“Song of the Mariachi”), which is from my brother’s (Robert Rodriguez) movie “Desperado.” A song Stephanie wrote called “Esperanza,” which means hope. And then “The Life,” by James Slater.
We recorded the rest of the album in Austin except for two songs, “Amor Sin Fronteras” (“Love Without Borders”) and “American Dream,” that we recorded in Mcallen.
TH: We went down to the Valley to record those songs and shoot some music videos.
And this was just before pandemic started?
Th:this was first week in March. We could feel that something was happening. We were so lucky to squeeze in the final recordings and film two beautiful music videos before everything closed down.
PV: Both videos and the album cover were in lockdown for a while in Mcallen. We couldn’t get to them until finally we got them at the 11th hour.
The album cover was shot at La Lomita Chapel in Mission, which is right where they want to put up the wall. And as we were shooting, three young men were being arrested for crossing the border. That really brought it home for us. Stephanie was like, “This is why we’re here. This is our story.”
Recording a bilingual album like this in August 2020 is by itself a political statement. Do you agree?
TH: For us there is a political angle. Before COVID-19 happened, we were already writing songs and getting involved with the Latino community on border issues. Remember how big border issues were before COVID? Children in cages, families being separated and being put into camps.
Especially as women and moms, we feel for these women. We were planning a Mother’s Day concert fundraiser for a group called Border Aid that puts on one-day festivals to bring light to issues surrounding refugees and immigrants. Then everything got shut down.
We’ve continued working with them, but now we’re also involved in getting out the vote, working with the group Voto Latino which is based in Washington, D.C. Maybe do some PSAS to the Latino community. Everything’s happening really fast because Election Day’s right around the corner.
Is there a future for the Texicana Mamas, or will this be a one-off thing?
SJ: (Laughs) Well, we have management, we have a booking agent. Right now we love doing this project. We have our solo careers, but I think our hearts are focused right here because there’s something really magical between us.
We’re working on a documentary with the Texas Heritage Music Foundation. Do you remember the VH-1 show “Behind the Music”? It’s going to be something like that. It’s going to be our story, where we came from, how we came together, and the music that makes up the Texicana Mamas and what we’re about. It will be interviews and some of these videos with us telling that story.
How will this documentary be released?
SJ: Things are still up in the air, but when a decision is made it’ll be on our website
Thetexicanamamas.com.
In the meantime, we’ve released a second single and music video, “Abundancia” (“Abundance”) and are getting ready to release “Amigas De Corazon” (“Friends of the Heart”), which we’re really excited about because it includes guest artists Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca. That’ll be released (today), when the album comes out.
How frustrating is it that you’ll be unable to perform in concert to
promote the album?
PV: It’s made us think outside the box. That’s why the first video out of the gate was “Cocina de Amor” (“Kitchen of Love”), because that was the most joyful and about love starting in the kitchen. We wanted to incorporate our families and friends and fans who sent us videos from eight or nine countries of themselves dancing and cooking in their kitchens.
TH: We’re also learning as we go. Our initial idea was a no-audience live show at Arneson River Theatre. With more spikes in the number of infections, we thought, we don’t want to put ourselves or anyone else in danger. Let’s go back to the drawing board, and that’s where the idea of the documentary came up.
We’re setting our sights on 2021, or whenever things can start getting back to normal. We know if we can tour in six months or another year people will still welcome it. We’ll be looking forward to that day.
PV: But we didn’t hesitate about putting the album out during quarantine. It was either now or let’s wait until it all blow over. We were like, “No. People need it now. Our country needs it now.”
TH: This is an election year. I feel we were made for this moment. To rise up and say, “Use your voice, use your power. Vote.”
Stephanie Urbina Jones