Art
September 6, 2023
A New Photo Exhibit Celebrates the “Cultura” of South Texas, From Sandra Cisneros to Selena
San Antonio photographer Al Rendón brings fifty years of rock and street photography to the Witte Museum.
Tejano
Border & Immigration
July 10, 2023
How Cartel Violence Has Reshaped Tejano Identity in South Texas
Many border residents no longer visit their home country, which may help explain the region’s rightward political shift.
Texas History
May 16, 2023
Selena and the Geto Boys Changed Texas Music at the Same Time
The Geto Boys and Selena set the stage in the early nineties for the transformation of Texas music.
Film & TV
May 15, 2023
Shea Serrano’s New Sitcom, ‘Primo,’ is Peak Pocho TV
Based on his life growing up in San Antonio’s Southside, the show feels unencumbered by the weight of representation.
Texas History
April 10, 2023
A Writer Revisits His Search for His Grandfather’s Darkest Secrets
Author John Phillip Santos’s 2010 “Tejano elegy” explores family secrets that reveal “the deepest mysteries of being human.”
Music
February 1, 2023
A Culture Writer and Lifelong Selena Fan’s Ultimate Love Letter to the Icon
Cat Cardenas’s 2021 essay made a poignant case about the mistakes Selena never got to make—and how they would have deepened our love for her.
Texas Country Reporter
April 19, 2022
For Enedina Vasquez, Life and Art Were Inseparable
Texas Country Reporter remembers the late artist, whose San Antonio house was covered from corner to corner in art, memories, and poetry.
Libations
September 17, 2021
Tejano-Led Breweries Are Serving Up a Tex-Mex Craft Beer Revolution
With beer that reflects their heritage, new makers are winning awards—and winning over folks new to craft brews.
News & Politics
September 13, 2021
Seven Texans on the Emerging Hispanic Plurality
Texas Monthly spoke with experts about how Tejanos are influencing everything in the state, from cuisine to pop culture to entrepreneurship.
Politics & Policy
September 13, 2021
Why Democrats Are Losing Texas Latinos
The party assumes people of color will turn the state blue. But most Tejanos consider themselves white. And more are voting Republican.
Sponsored
April 16, 2021
What Are Some of Your Favorite Cumbia and Tejano Tracks?
This month, WhiteClaw Hard Seltzer wants to celebrate Selena and her legacy with the ultimate dance playlist.
Being Texan
January 22, 2021
What My Aunt Yoli Taught Me About Being a Tejano
The Rio Grande Valley gets its magic from residents like her—those who believe in the blessedness of time and space.
Texas History
January 20, 2021
How Manny Guerra Shaped the Tejano Music Scene
The San Antonio producer created a style that would endure for decades—and he helped Selena get her start.
Film & TV
December 31, 2019
How Gabriel Luna Became One of Texas’s Most Promising Actors
Before starring in ‘Terminator' and working with Robert Rodriguez, the Tejano fulfilled his grandfather’s biggest dream.
Books
September 10, 2019
Resurrecting ‘Stories That Must Not Die,’ A Chilling, Seminal Collection of South Texas Folklore
The Tejano goth classic is an essential bilingual teaching aid and trove of the region’s most beloved tales, including “La Llorona.”
Music
January 24, 2017
The Sons Also Rise
At his peak, Emilio Navaira was known as the King of Tejano and the Garth Brooks of Texas. Now, months after his death, two of his children are following in his footsteps with a little help from Sting.
Music
July 18, 2016
There Is A Selena Wax Statue Going In At Madame Tussauds
The one in Hollywood, not the Louis Tussauds in San Antonio, so adjust your travel plans accordingly.
The Daily Post
February 12, 2016
The Break-Up: Selena Style
Valentine’s Day is almost here, and we've found the perfect opportunity to end things with a little bom bom.
Music
March 30, 2015
Here Are Some Professors With PhDs in Selena
Even academics know what there is to learn from La Reina de Tex-Mex.
Music
August 7, 2014
Cowboy Rides Again
Some overdue recognition for Manuel Donley, Tejano’s first rock star.
The Culture
January 21, 2013
The Education of Mi Hijita
My daughter is only two, but I’m already planning to teach her what it means to be a Texan—and a Tejana.
Music
January 20, 2013
David Lee Garza
Poteet
Music
January 20, 2013
The Queen Is Dead
When Selena Quintanilla Perez was killed on March 31, Texas mourned—and around the world, the veneration began.
Music
May 21, 2012
Flaco Jimenez and Brother Santiago Reunited
The two brothers, legendary conjunto players with completely different styles who had not shared a stage since 1982, played at San Antonio's Tejanjo Conjunto Festival over the weekend.
Music
April 1, 2010
Dreaming of Her
On March 31, 1995, South Texas came to a standstill as the shocking news spread that the hugely popular Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez had been shot and killed in Corpus Christi. Fifteen years later, the people who knew Selena best recall the life and devastating death of a star
Music
March 31, 2010
Soñando con Ella
Era una chica del barrio cuya voz la hizo acreedora de un Grammy, vendió millones de álbumes y la convirtió en una sensación como ninguna otra. Y cuando fue asesinada, el 31 de marzo de 1995, la estrella de la música tejana Selena Quintanilla Pérez pareció llevarse consigo las aspiraciones
Music
February 1, 2010
How to Dance Cumbia
Before waltzing into a Tejano nightclub—or into any big party in South Texas, for that matter—you should know how to dance cumbia. Originally a folk dance from Colombia, the cumbia shuffled across Latin America, picking up small changes along the way, and has comfortably settled here with a distinct Tejano
Music
April 1, 2004
King of the Accordion
You may never have heard of Ramón Ayala, but to his four generations of fans in South Texas and Mexico, he’s music royalty. He revolutionized norteño, a genre that reigns along the border, and—after more than one hundred albums—is still going strong.
Music
April 30, 2000
Tuned Out
Five years after Selena's death, tejano music is struggling to be heard.
Music
March 1, 1999
Sour Notes
A tejano rift widens.
Music
November 1, 1998
We’re an American Band
How did Houston supergroup La Mafia get to be the biggest tejano act in the world? By leaving Texas.
Music
April 30, 1998
Sour Grupos
The bigger you get, the more people complain about you. That’s the sad fact of life La Mafia is learning to accept. In February the Houston sextet won their second consecutive Grammy, for best Mexican American/tejano music performance, and they’ve just released La Mafia: Hits de Colección, Vol. 1 (Sony
Guides
April 30, 1998
CD and Book Reviews
Hot CDs and Hot Books
Music
September 30, 1996
Jennifer Peña
ON MAY 29, 1995, TWO MONTHS AFTER THE TRAGIC death of tejano star Selena, a tribute was staged in her honor at Houston’s Astrodome. Although many well-known acts performed that day, including hometown superstars La Mafia and Selena’s former bandmate Pete Astudillo, it was an unknown eleven-year-old dynamo named Jennifer
Music
December 1, 1995
The Sweet Song of Justice
The verdict is in, but a complete account of what went on in the Selena murder trial hasn’t come out—until now.
Border & Immigration
March 1, 1980
An American Family
Pedro Martínez, with only his Mexican heritage, a determination to work hard, and a desire for a better life, brought his family across the Rio Grande to find a home in a new land.
Music
May 1, 1978
Little Joe
Amid blaring trumpets, raised fists, bottles of beer, and a cheering mob stands the king of Saturday night.