Epi Martinez & Friends

For Tejano (Mexican American) people in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexican border, the traditional music of celebrations and social gatherings is conjunto. Although the word means simply “group” in Spanish, conjunto evokes a much wider world of identity, feeling, and meaning in South Texas. Epi Martinez and his mother Cruz play classic conjunto centered on their harmony singing and deep connections to the roots, culture, and traditions of the Valley. Together, their music embodies multigenerational family traditions while paying tribute to Tejano culture, sounds, and language. Conjunto is música alegre—happy music fostering community, dancing, and good times for all.

Conjunto music emerged in South Texas in the late 19thcentury when Tejano musicians reimagined immigrant German, Czech, and Polish music into a lively new style of social dance music played on a variety of instruments for hardworking Mexican working-class communities. By the 1920s, a defined conjunto style emerged with a mixture of rhythms like rancheras, polkas, waltzes, redovas, cumbias, huapangos, and schottisches played on the button accordion and the bajo sexto, a 12-stringed bass instrument unique to the borderlands. In the rural Rio Grande Valley, a distinctive regional style of conjunto music emerged, highlighting speed, a progressive musical sensibility, and instrumental virtuosity.

Cruz Martinez taught herself to sing as a child living and working on a ranch in Washington state, which has a significant and musically rich Mexican American population. At just 14, Cruz met singer and accordionist Epifanio Martinez, Sr., from Edcouch, Texas, while both were working as migrant laborers in California. The two later married and moved to Texas, where they began an influential career as Dueto Epifanio y Cruz, and recorded a number of LPs and 45s with such notable labels as Paulino Bernal’s Bego Records and Vela Records. Cruz performed alongside Epifanio for 28 years until his death, and in 2023, she was inducted into the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame for her remarkable singing.

Cruz and Epifanio’s son, Epifanio, Jr., was born into conjunto music, deeply influenced by his parents’ beautiful duet harmonies and the many musicians who surrounded them. At age eight, Epi recorded with his parents at Gilberto Perez’s studio, cutting the hit song “El Pueblo Viejo,” which he and Cruz still perform today. By 13, he had learned to play multiple instruments, including bajo sexto, guitar, and bass, among others, and began playing with numerous bands in the Valley, including recording with Elida y Avante on their hit song, “Duele.” In 2000, Epi and his friends formed Frijoles Románticos, a popular group whose self-titled debut album was nominated for a Grammy. Epi has become a highly sought-after studio musician, recording hits with major conjunto, Tejano, and norteño artists such as Roberto Pulido, Gilberto Perez, Big Circo, Bobby Pulido, and many others.

Today, Epi and Cruz perform across Texas and the nation, appearing annually at major festivals such as the Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio, the Festival of Texas Fiddling, Black Pot Camp in Louisiana, and the Kenaston Country Music Show in Nebraska. Epi and Cruz appear at the National Folk Festival with a supergroup of Rio Grande Valley musicians including multi-instrumentalists Wilfredo Contreras, Israel Hernandez, and Israel (Riley) Hernandez, Jr.