Hello Tejanos Out There!
This is a Tejano music site with a commonality line of balance. I thank you kindly for visiting and I'm so glad you're here at the real TMDC. Explore the new site, the new links, the new commentaries and new pictures, plus the latest updates and good Tejano music.
Plus, overall music dialogue are the main principals of this site, and for all of you across this country. Progress in the advocacy and infrastructure of our Tejano music industry you could say, again ...
Is the heart and rhythm of TMDC. So, welcome to my Home Page Tejanos.
Welcome to tejanomike.com
This is where it all begins, where we meet, where we shake hands, and has my introduction to the site.
I talk about tejano music balance, music awareness, I talk about my city of Austin and my early beginnings in music.
I would add it's been an exceptionally long music journey between three states - also trying to help our tejano music as an advocate for more than 35 years.
And living through the modern present-day music apps/media platforms.
I also believe that music, like life itself ...
Can take us through so many roads
and so many different paths,
so many changes,
traveling through city after city,
and playing in other states and countries.
But more importantly I think,
we also learn other things from
so many people we
meet along the way.
That ... is the beauty of life itself.
I try to play different kinds of music for my listening audience and my tejano music fanbase, i.e., from super Tejano hits to light rock to new and old country covers. At times I upload YouTube videos, and other music that I have in my computer like Latin salsa, oldies, Hawaiian, reggae, and other classic hits from the 70s, 80s, 90s, to the present. I mix it up all the time.
I'm from Austin Texas folks, and a Libra too, well, sorry, but, "I love beauty in all forms", and in all kinds of art/abstract pictures, 'astronomy' has been one of my favorite subjects since I was eight years old. I love to write and compose love ballads, but Tejano music being the main one, I enjoy writing original songs as well as conjunto, group, and band music arrangements. I have written a few Tejano and country songs; they're on the 'Music' link.
A Decade By Decade Journey Tejano History / [More on the 'AFTERwords link]
Every instrument in the Tejano toolkit arrived with a story attached — and those stories stretch back more than a century. Tracing the genre's arc from dusty South Texas dance halls to Grammy stages isn't just an exercise in music history. It's a window into how a community navigated immigration, class struggle, political awakening, and commercial ambition, all while keeping the dance floor packed.
In the 1920s and '30s, cheap one-row accordions flooded the Texas-Mexico border region, and working-class Tejano musicians grabbed them. Rural social gatherings called fandangos — part dance, part feast, part celebration — became the proving ground for a new sound. Narciso Martinez, known as "El Huracan del Valle" for his virtuosity, paired the two-row accordion with the bajo sexto and essentially invented the modern conjunto. Around the same time, Lydia Mendoza — "La Alondra de la Frontera" — became one of the first Tejana artists to record commercially, proving the music could travel beyond the dance hall circuit.
Santiago Jimenez Sr. added the tololoche (contrabass) in San Antonio, while Valerio Longoria later introduced drums and accordion-accompanied vocals, shaping the four-piece conjunto format that still defines the style. These weren't polished studio acts. Many of these musicians worked as fieldworkers and laborers, composing songs in their free time and playing the "taco circuit" — public dances organized along the roads that Texas-Mexican cotton pickers followed to the harvests. The music was a night routine for communities with few other outlets for joy, and it carried the emotional weight of a people building identity in the margins.
Today in 2026, well, I am grateful for the many advances in the digital planet and the innovational Ai technology we see daily ... and how it's used in our little planet and in the modern world. You could say and you might even agree with me that it's a fast-paced industry out there with social media platforms' ... and so many turbo-driven music apps. It's a busy market-driven music business.
Finally Tejanos, being a Libra from Texas, kindly allow me to share this with you all ...
"Every morning, I look forward to a new day because it brings in a new life chapter, it opens another new path, and
each day gives all of us another window of opportunity to face the world all over again."
I thank you for walking this music path with me, for your loyalty, and for all your support.
About this site: TEJANOmike is a passionate advocate for Tejano music, which is a genre that blends Mexican and US influences, often featuring instruments like the accordion and guitar. He runs a website called the real 'TEJANOmike' at www.tejanomike.com ... where he shares his love for Tejano music, promotes its history, and encourages young musicians to excel in this genre. Welcome back.