Tejano music
Tejano music is - as the name suggests - a purely Texan aesthetic. Sometimes referred to as "Tex-Mex", this music was born of the cultural melting pot created by the settlement of Mexicans north of the Rio Grande in Texas. A great melting pot, it has combined numerous aesthetics over the ages, first of Mexican inspiration, that of mariachi and bandas, then American styles such as folk, country, rock and blues. The polka, imported by migrants from Germany and Poland to Texas and Mexico at the end of the 19thcentury , also played a decisive role in structuring tejano music and in the use of the accordion, which became an essential element of the genre. The bajo sexto, a Spanish twelve-string bass, was another instrument of particular importance to the development of tejano music.
Of the three main currents in tejano music, the conjunto is the most popular. Also known as " Conjunto norteño " or " Conjunto tejano ", the term designates both a type of orchestra and the musical genre that developed around it, a more traditional, less Americanized form. Texan accordionist Flaco Jiménez is the conjunto's emblem, while Narciso Martínez, also an accordionist, is its pioneer. Today, San Antonio veteran Santiago Jimenez, Jr. keeps the conjunto alive.
The first star of tejano music in the 1940s was Lydia Mendoza, Anselmo Martinez was one of the first great voices in the 1960s, and Selena is by far the most important name of any era. Born in Texas in 1971, of Mexican-American parents, she is the emblem of this mixed music, which she helped to spread throughout the United States and Latin America. Her murder by a former collaborator in 1995 shocked the whole of America.
Country music
Texas is inextricably linked with the image of the lone cowboy, riding his cattle from one end of the state to the other. Lonely, yes, but always accompanied by country music. An encounter between black American rhythm & blues and the Celtic tones brought by Anglo-Saxon immigration, it is in its lyrics and spirit, the music that understands the cowboy, the one in which he finds himself, his daily life, his preoccupations..
Even if, according to experts, the cradle of the genre is the Appalachian region, and Nashville, Tennessee - with its mythical Grand Ole Opry scene - is still the heart of the industry, country music remains a genre with roots deeply rooted in Texas soil. Not least because its first stars are associated with the region. First came Jimmie Rodgers, the pioneer of blue yodeling, who spent many years in Texas (where he died). Then Bob Wills, the father of "Western Swing", a distinctive Texas country style. He and his Texas Playboys incorporated not only jazz instruments, but above all a new swing into country music.
In the 1950s, things began to change. Inspired by Bob Wills and led by superstar Hank Williams, the upbeat, danceable Honky Tonk style dominated the country landscape. With his formula and songs like Move It On Over , Hank Williams unwittingly contributed to the advent of rock & roll, a genre that gradually dethroned country in sales. The Nashville-based country music industry reacted in the 1960s by pushing a mainstream version of country music - almost "country-flavored" pop - that was supposed to respond to the success of rock & roll.
Thus, in the 1970s, the "outlaw country" movement was born, a rough, raw fusion of country and rock, in complete opposition to the bland Nashville sound, carried by the iconic Texans Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. And if Nashville was the HQ of mainstream country, it was Austin that established itself as the den of outlaws. Today, Austin is country music's "other" capital. It's home to the latest big names in country music, especially from Texas, such as Wade Bowen, the Randy Rogers Band, Rich O'Tool and Asleep at the Wheel.
Anyone who wants to listen to or dance to country music will have to go to a honky tonk, the institution of the genre in Texas. The honky tonk is the place where country music fans come together. It's a bar with a live band and a large dance floor for waltzing. The decor can be enhanced with a dart board, pool tables, rodeo parks... On a first visit to Texas, this is a must if you really want to get a taste of country culture.
Among the must-sees is Austin's Broken Spoke, one of the state's finest honky ton ks and a veritable institution. For 50 years, the greatest country singers have been coming here to perform their hits in a very convivial atmosphere. The regulars are always ready to introduce newcomers to a few dance steps. Still in Austin, the White Horse is a traditional Texas honky tonk with live music almost every night. In Houston, the Wild West is the famous honky tonk in town. Authentic experience guaranteed.
Otherwise, the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, in February, is associated with a country music festival, and Amarillo's Tri-State Exposition also features a fair number of country concerts.
The rock
Yes, Texas is undeniably a land of rock. And a major player in the history of the genre, when you consider that Buddy Holly was born here and had an influence on up-and-coming young musicians such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton. Not to mention that another great rock & roll pioneer, Roy Orbison, hails from Wink, Texas. The 1960s saw the birth of many highly influential rockers, including the immense Janis Joplin, originally from Port Arthur. Born in 1943, Janis Joplin exploded in the 1960s with the band Big Brother. A true empress of 1960s rock & roll, the singer is still remembered for her incredible, bluesy, gravelly voice. Her 1968 album Cheap Thrills, featuring Piece of my Heart and Summertime, was a huge success, immediately establishing her at the top of her game. She died of an overdose in 1970, at the age of 27, helping to consolidate the myth of the "27 Club".
The psychedelic rock movement of the 1960s and 1970s had deep roots in Texas, not least because legendary band The Thirteenth Floor Elevators hailed from Austin. In 1969, Houston was the birthplace of the most famous bearded hard rock band of all time: ZZ Top.
More recently, the region has again played a major role in the rock landscape, with the birth of such Texan-tempered bands as At The Drive In (from El Paso), feverish post-hardcore, and Pantera (from Arlington), who had a huge influence on metal.
Today, the Black Angels (from Austin), who take up the torch of local psychedelic rock, and Khruangbin (from Houston), multicolored funk rock with no frontiers, are at the top of the bill.
Classical music
Texas hasn't offered any big names in classical music or opera - except perhaps Barbara Smith Conrad (1937 - 2017), a mezzo-soprano with an international career - but there are two interesting ensembles to mention. First, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO), professional since 1945, and home to some remarkable musical directors such as the excellent Jaap van Zweden, current director of the highly prestigious New York Philharmonic and more recently Fabio Luisi, who was Principal Conductor of New York's Metropolitan Opera between 2011 and 2017 and Music Director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra from 2005 to 2013. The orchestra performs at the Meyerson Symphony Center, designed by Chinese-born architect IM Pei (best known in France for his design of the Louvre Pyramid).
The other major ensemble in Texas is the Houston Symphony, which was notably conducted by André Previn between 1967 and 1969, as well as by the very fine Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada between 2014 and 2022. The orchestra performs at Jones Hall, which hosts around 170 performances a year.
Contemporary music
The queen of hip-hop, Beyoncé, who needs no introduction, is from Texas. Born in Houston in 1981, she first came to public attention in the early 2000s with the group Destiny's Child, which went on to enjoy a string of commercial successes, selling some 80 million records. Her first solo album, Dangerously in Love, won five Grammy Awards. In barely a decade, she has become an international music icon. In 2010, Forbes and Time magazines named her one of the world's most influential people.
Long before Beyoncé, Houston was a little-known (by the general public) hip-hop capital. Less renowned than its two southern rap cousins in New Orleans and Atlanta, the Houston scene has nonetheless been a bastion of the so-called " dirty south ". Houston is such a large city that most local rappers have long been able to content themselves with the local market before tackling the national scale. It's an inward-looking scene, but one that has been able to develop its own identity in the shadow of the major rap trends.
Houston's rap adventure began with the Geto Boys, a pioneering group with a cult following for its dark, violent, gangster sound. From this group, rapper Scarface enjoyed an explosive solo career crowned by millions of sales. In the same spirit, we find Lil Troy and above all UGK, a duo that has also become cult, made up of Bun B and Pimp C, whose heritage many Southern rappers have claimed for themselves.
But above all, Houston is DJ Screw and his famous "chopped & screwed", both inseparable from the city's rap identity. In the 2000s, at a time when codeine syrups were wreaking havoc with the American poor - and with rappers - DJ Screw restored the effects of the analgesic in his music, slowing it down to an extreme, numbing it and making it cottony and soaring. A small revolution that transformed the sound of rap in its day.
After Dj Screw, Houston continued to cultivate local talent, sometimes very much linked to the city's identity, sometimes not at all. Among the best-known of these, Chamillionaire remains famous for his hit Ridin, which was played over and over again on TV and radio when it was released, and more recently, Travis Scott has transcended barriers by taking the Houston sound (and rap in general) into very arty territory. It's also worth noting that non-native rappers like New York's A$AP Rocky have found success using the Houston sound.
Outside Houston, Texas has also produced some notable rappers, such as the talented Megan Thee Stallion, originally from San Antonio.
It's impossible to talk about music in Texas without mentioning Austin. Nicknamed " Music City ", Austin is home to one of the most dynamic music scenes in the U.S., thanks to the astronomical number of concerts held here every week. With over 200 stages in a medium-sized city (for the USA), there's an extraordinary density of music per square metre. The city is therefore the ideal place to rub shoulders with the country's young musical creation, especially if you visit during one of its amazing festivals such as South By Southwest (SXSW), a multi-disciplinary event (music, film, digital technologies), one of the country's biggest, where over 2,000 artists perform, or Keep Austin Weird, a festival celebrating Austin's originality with psychedelic music, local crafts, masquerade costume contests, a 5-kilometer race..
