Old-fashioned anti-immigrant prejudice always brings out some old-fashioned racists. This time around, they have started claiming that Mexicans can’t assimilate. A sillier idea I’ve never heard. Why don’t they come to Texas and meet up with Lars Gonzales, Erin Rodriguez and Bubba at the bowling alley. They can drink some Lone Star, listen to some conjunto and chill.
California too.
From the L.A. Times on the death of country music legend Buck Owens.
“What a musical innovator,” said Chris Hillman, a veteran of California rock, country and folk music as a member of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band. “His music had so much norteño and Tex-Mex in it. It had such a California influence that Nashville never hadâ┚¬Â¦.
“That put the state of California on the map. Not better, just different. It had more edge,” Hillman said Saturday. “There was a regional difference, and the different music that was out here â┚¬â€ 90% of which was Hispanic, especially in Central California â┚¬â€ filtered right into their stuff.”
I live in California now and have lived in Texas. Mexican/ Latino/ Hispanic culture IS part of the mainstream culture.