Houston Musical Roots: Oral Histories and Transcripts

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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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  • This collection gathers outputs generated as a result of this project
  • 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 and variety shows in Mexico, where his mother performed regional Mexican music, and his father played rocanrol. As Galvan explains, “From the beginning, they were already mixing the mariachi and the rock & roll, which was pretty cool” (approximate timestamp 1: 41). Galvan has fronted the Spanish language ska-punk Los Skarnales since 1994.
  • 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 spinning these genres in bars within Houston's Second Ward—particularly the D&W Lounge. In 2017, they and a group of East End community members embarked on Tejas Got Soul, a project to document, celebrate, and preserve the history of la onda, Chicano Soul, and early Tejano in Houston's East End. The project has entered a second phase, Tejas Got Soul 2, extending the geographic area to the Houston area and the genres to other música Tejana, including Tejano, conjunto, and norteño.
  • 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 embarked on his Gulf Coast band Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man, a rootsy blend of Tex-Mex (including Tejano, conjunto, and other música Tejana), country (including honky tonk and rockabilly), rock and roll, swamp pop, jazz, and blues, R&B, and soul. At present, he performs his Houston roots music with a rotating cast of musicians, many of whom played with Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man or Los Skarnales.
  • 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 up, Rodriguez attended Tejano shows with his parents. Leonel Pulido taught Rodriguez to play the conjunto and traditional waltzes, polkas, and schottisches of traditional música Tejana on accordion. Rodriguez performed with Los Skarnales and Nick Gaitan & Umbrella Man and currently plays with many bands, including Tremoloco (since 2011). Rodriguez still performs with Nick Gaitan and has founded the bands Los Pistoleros and Mas Pulpo, who blend Tex-Mex, conjunto, and punk.