Tejano and Proud

This past weekend at Bootfest, we enjoyed the best in Texas Country and Tejano music.  On Saturday night, taking the Coors Light Main Stage was Jaime Y Los Chamacos.  Lead singer and accordionist Jaime DeAnda is the reason I took and interest in tejano music and playing the accordion.  I started playing my toy accordion at the age of 5.  My grandma had vinyl album which included the  first recordings of Los Chamacos, and I would enjoy listening to the sound of the accordion.  It wasn't until I was 15 when I first saw them live at the Club Westerner in Victoria that I knew I needed to buy an accordion FAST.....and I did!  I never took any lessons but taught myself by ear. At the age of 16, I started to DJ for the local tejano radio station, and this solidified my love of tejano music.  That stint was short lived at about 6 months. By this point I had seen this group live about 10 times!  It wasn't until my journey found me back at the Tejano station from 2011-2014,as morning show DJ, that I was asked to bring on Jaime Y Los Chamacos on stage at a Fiesta in downtown Victoria in 2013!  At that time, that was my highlight as a radio personality.  In November of 2014, I crossed paths with Joe Bob from KIXS, and was subsequently offered the morning show in January 2015. It's almost been a year now!  Fast forward to Bootfest this past weekend...I was once again asked to bring on my tejano idol on stage.   This was sweeter than the first time for two reasons.  First of all, I was able to show that I am tejano and proud and have made it on a mainstream country radio station.    Second, Jaime let me take a picture with his brand new accordion and asked me to play him a little tune. Talk about being a little star struck!  He had just gotten this accordion on Thursday, and had not even played it on stage yet.  I am just amazed how Tejano music found its way to me on the Country station.  Never forget where you come from!