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A Brief History of Texas Musical Traditions
No state is more musical than Texas . . . a state of immigrants where the melting
pot is stirred to the sounds of Cajun waltzes, polkas, honky-tonk, conjunto, funk,
and jazz. The Hybrid State, Texas is where new variations were created when
Hispanics played German music, blacks played country, farm boys played big
band jazz, and everyone played the blues.
– Michael Corcoran, award-winning music critic, and
NOT a Texan (x)
Texas, in spite of its reputation for braggadocio and exceptionalism, does not exist within
a vacuum or on an elevated plain uninfluenced by its neighbors. Bordered by Louisiana,
Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico, Texas has experienced waves of
immigration over the last two centuries that flooded the countryside, towns, and cities with
diverse musical influences with roots on three continents.
When Spain ruled the land that is now Texas, the government was unable to attract
settlers to the wild and unpopulated (by Mexicans) territory. Once Mexico gained independence
from Spain in 1821, the situation immediately changed. Fearing an encroachment from the U. S.
settlements in neighboring Louisiana, Mexico sought colonists, and fast, for their far-flung and
sparsely populated state of Tejas. They granted land to potential new colonists, mostly Anglos
from the southern United States and Irish Catholic families fleeing British rule., and, eventually,
as Texas became an independent nation and later a state, even more land was granted to Czechs,
Germans, Poles, Bohemians, and Alsatians from Europe, most of whom entered Texas through
the new port of Galveston (Hartman 3-27).
Each wave brought successive new cultures, foods, farming methods, and music. The
Southerners brought traditional English, Irish, and Scottish folk songs and flings that later
morphed into bluegrass in the Appalachians. From Europe, came the schottisches, polkas,