In 1972, a half-century after the birth of commercial country music, Billboard country charts posted the first hit single by a Latin artist, a young Tejano named Johnny Rodriguez. Over the next twenty-one months three Mexican American artists, Rodriguez, Freddy Fender, and Linda Ronstadt, racked up seventeen Top 10 hits, including ten at No. 1. These artists returned to the country charts throughout the ’70s and ’80s, with solo records and sometimes collaborations. But the half-century since 1975 has seen only one Latin solo artist top the country charts: Rick Trevino in 1996. Perhaps relatedly, recent research has identified an industry effort to build up country’s white image in the ’70s, even as the genre enjoyed a rise in Black and Hispanic listenership. This lecture revisits the music and machinations of country’s 1970s Latino prime and considers this moment in the context of the hundred-year history of Mexican American involvements and contributions in country music.

This event will be held as part of the AMS/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Lecture Series.