Free Concert: Little Joe Y La Familia

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Little Joe Hernandez is the leader of Little Joe y La Familia, one of the most popular Tex-Mex bands in the music industry. Described as the “King of the Brown Sound,” Little Joe helped to pioneer Tejano music, a mix of traditional norteño music and country, blues, and rock styles.

Jose “Little Joe” Maria De Leon Hernandez was born to Salvador “La Cotorra” Hernandez and Amelia De Leon Hernandez in a one-room dirt floor shack in Temple, Texas on October 17, 1940. He was the seventh child of thirteen. In 1953, while working as a young migrant worker in the cotton fields of Texas, Joeʼs cousin, David Coronado, the front man for the band “David Coronado & The Latinaires,” recruited Joe on guitar, Cino Moreno on drums and Tony Matamoros on saxophone. It wouldnʼt be until 1955 that Joe would finally play his first “paying” performance in Cameron, Texas for $5.00 at a high school sock hop. He realized that picking guitar beat picking cotton and he could actually get paid for it.

Joeʼs recording debut as a guitarist for Terrero Records in Corpus Christi came in 1958 on an instrumental, “Safari Part I & II” which was composed by all members of the Latinaires. David Coronado left the band in 1959, which gave Joe the opportunity to take over the band, renaming it “Little Joe & The Latinaires.” At the same time, Joeʼs younger brother Jesse Hernandez, who was a bassist, singer and songwriter, joined the band. Sadly in 1964 Jesse was killed in an automobile accident. Joe made a vow at Jesseʼs graveside to carry their music to the top, not realizing how high his music would take him, how it would open many doors for other artists, and how it would set many new musical trends.

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