Bugle Boy Foundation

ALSO LIVE WEBCASTING

San Antonio-native Tish Hinojosa is the youngest of 13 children born to Mexican immigrant parents who, as stated in her song “West Side of Town,” “made a good life the hard way.” She started playing guitar and singing at 14, influenced by her parents’ kitchen radio with its eclectic Latino programming, her older sisters’ ’60s records, and the ’70s folk rock she grew up with. By the time she started college she was playing gigs at local coffee houses and student gatherings on campus. In 1979 Hinojosa was invited to sing at the Kerrville Folk Festival, but was also required to present some original songs. Even though she had never written before, she won the New Folk Songwriters contest that year and launched her career as a writer. Since then, she has won widespread acclaim for her unique and insightful blend of folk, country, and Hispanic music. She sings and writes in Spanish and English and has many bilingual songs, including a full album of children’s songs that has often been used by teachers as a tool for teaching the Spanish language. She has recorded both as an independent artist and for major labels, been featured on Austin City Limits and A Prairie Home Companion, performed at the White House, and collaborated with such artists as Joan Baez, Booker T. Jones, Flaco Jimenez, Pete Seeger, and Dwight Yoakam. In 2018, Hinojosa was inducted into the Texas Songwriters Association’s Music Legends Hall of Fame, and the following year became only the second songwriter to ever be honored with membership to the Texas Institute of Letters. Most recently, she teamed up with fellow songwriters Patricia Vonne and Stephanie Urbina Jones to form the Texicana  Mamas, whose debut album was released in 2020.