From L-R: Roberto Rodriguez III, Felipe Galvan, Nick Gaitan, and Isaac Rodriguez

Mary Manning conducted comprehensive interviews with Felipe Galvan, Nick Gaitan, Roberto Rodriguez III, and Isaac Rodriguez over four years (2015-2019). The recorded discussions focused on their early lives and musical exposure, their careers, how their involvement in and relationship to the music has evolved, how they have been able to make a living through music, and how they support each other—professionally and as friends. These musicians serve as key oral historical sources to better understand the recent evolution of roots music in Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast region.

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• Felipe Galvan

  Felipe Galvan is a first-generation Texas Mexican, born in Pharr, a border town across from Reynosa, Mexico, the city where his parents and older siblings were born. Galvan’s parents met as performers in traveling music ...

• Isaac Rodriguez

  Isaac Rodriguez is a multi-generation, proud Tejano and music historian whose interviews reveal a deep understanding of la onda, Chicano soul, and Tejano, particularly in the Houston area. In 2014, he and Nick Gaitan began ...

• Nick Gaitan

  Nick Gaitan was born in Houston, Texas, on December 11, 1979, and grew up in the East End's Pecan Park neighborhood. Mexican American and American music, including soul and rock, filled Gaitan's childhood. In 2006, Gaitan ...

• Roberto Rodriguez III

  Born in Houston, Texas, on April 30, 1984, Roberto Rodriguez III grew up in Houston's Second Ward, where he and his family still reside. Rodriguez's mother was born in Mexico, and his father was born in Houston. Growing ...