Earlier this year, Mexican hitmaker Carin León made his Grand Ole Opry debut performing “Primera Cita” and “The One (Pero No Como Yo)” (his recorded collaboration with Kane Brown) on the revered Nashville stage, to an audience filled with adoring fans.
The moment highlighted a convergence between two of the U.S.’s fastest-growing musical genres. According to Luminate’s 2023 year-end report, Latin music rose 24.1% year over year in U.S. on-demand audio streams, while country music rose 23.7% year over year.
The surge is happening with live music as well. Through Nov. 7, 24 tours in 2024 have grossed more than $100 million, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Of those, four are by country artists and four are by Latin artists. At this point last year, only two country tours and one Latin tour had met those benchmarks.
“Everybody wants to be a cowboy right now, everybody wants to do country right now,” León told Billboard earlier this year, noting how much of the roots of country music and cowboy culture are embedded in Latino culture. “We as Americans, as Mexicans, we want to feel proud of what we are for. We don’t want to emulate what everybody’s doing — these are our roots. Our hat is what we are, our boots are what we are. I’m very happy that people are looking to our culture in such a big way that is happening right now.”
Crossover collaborations between the two styles of music have always dotted the soundscape, but recently León, known for Billboard Latin Airplay hits including the four-week chart-topper “Segun Quien” with Maluma, saw his duet with Brown reach No. 48 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Country singer Carrie Underwood previously collaborated with David Bisbal on the bilingual “Tears of Gold,” and country singer Scotty McCreery, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, teamed with Gusi for “Why She Gotta Be Like That.” Brown also teamed with Camila Cabello teamed for “Never Be the Same.”
According to a preview of the Country Music Association’s upcoming fall 2024 Diverse Audience study, country music listenership has increased in the Latino community: 58% of Latino music listeners consume country music at least monthly, compared to 50% when the last study was conducted in 2021. The growth of weekly country music listenership among the Latino audience experienced an even greater jump, rising from 25% in 2021 to 36% in 2024, signifying a 44% growth.
Major country labels have also taken notice. Universal Music Group Nashville signed Louie TheSinger, while Warner Music Nashville inked William Beckmann, who told Billboard he chose from “six or seven different record deals on the table.” Singer-songwriter Kat Luna (formerly of the Latin-country duo Kat and Alex) is signed to Sony Music Nashville. BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville’s roster includes “Country’d Look Good on You” hitmaker Frank Ray.
“We all know that there’s a Hispanic audience that loves country music,” UMG Nashville Chairman/CEO Cindy Mabe recently told Billboard. “Leaning into it starts to change that and having intentionality about what we’re signing to bring to the table… For me, it’s about bringing in those people that actually can help me change that. That may be through joint ventures, or they may be partners. Whatever that looks like, I’m looking to bring it in so that we’re just widening.”
Other Latino artists who have launched country music careers in recent years include independent acts Angie K, former Sony Music Nashville-turned-indie artist Sammy Arriaga (who in addition to releasing country songs such as “Boat,” has found success online through performing Spanish-language versions of country hits from Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and others), Andrea Vasquez, Valerie Ponzio and Stephanie Urbina Jones. Texan Matt Castillo recently released his album Pushing Borders and has already made inroads on the Texas Regional Radio Report country chart — earning four No. 1s, including the bilingual songs “Te Necesito” and “Corazon.”
However, like many women, Black and LGBTQ+ acts in country music, Latino artists continue to face an uphill battle, especially when it comes to finding chart-topping success at radio. As noted in the 2021 Redlining Country Music report from researcher Jada Watson, Hispanic/Latinx artists represented .4% of artists with songs played on country radio (Mediabase reporting) from 2002-2020. Overall, songs by BIPOC country artists represented 1.5% of songs played on country radio during that same period, while songs by white artists represented 98% of songs played on country radio during that period.
Ray broke through in 2022 with his top 20 Country Airplay hit “Country’d Look Good on You,” and also charted with “Somebody Else’s Whiskey.” In March 2023, Ray was part of Country Radio Seminar’s New Faces of Country Showcase, performing alongside Jelly Roll, Priscilla Block, Jackson Dean and Nate Smith.
However, when Ray followed up at country radio with “Uh Huh (Ajá),” a song that incorporated more Latin music-influenced guitar and percussion, as well as Spanish-language lyrics, he admits candidly, “It flopped. I appreciate country radio for giving it a shot, and that, to me, kind of lets me know that maybe the country music fanbase isn’t quite ready for that much of an infusion. So, there’s a lot of different reasons why I think it’s important to continue to create music like that. Obviously, from a career standpoint, you’ve got to be very strategic about it. We need inclusivity to happen, and it’s got to be socially acceptable all the way around.”
With streaming, playlists such as Spotify’s Latino Country have offered platforms for artists, while a range of other initiatives have spotlighted Latino artists, such as CMT’s Next Women of Country and an ongoing Nashville songwriters round featuring several Latina songwriters and hosted by celebrated Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Pat Alger. Meanwhile, music publishers including Sony Music Publishing and Warner Music Publishing have held songwriting camps for country and Latin music songwriters.
“Growing up in Texas, I was often exposed to Tejano and Mexican music, and I have always believed there are similarities between country music and Mexican music,” Rusty Gaston, CEO of Sony Music Publishing Nashville, tells Billboard in a statement. “Our Nashville office recently coordinated two Mexican/Nashville writing camps over the past 18 months and we’ve seen amazing cuts and releases come from each of them already. We’ve only scratched the surface of what is possible.”
“They wouldn’t be pushing for it if they didn’t feel like there was an audience out there that would appreciate it,” Ray says. “I’m proud of what the country music industry’s doing on the industry side where they’re seeing that the potential for the representation here, and more and more Hispanic artists are getting signed, getting songwriting deals or getting producer credits. So, Nashville is certainly trying [its] d–ndest to be as inclusive as possible.”
According to Luminate, one driver behind Latin music’s surge is Regional Mexican music, which encompasses a range of subgenres, among them banda, mariachi and Norteño — styles that have long been intertwined with country music.
“If you peel it back from a historical standpoint, regional Mexican music, especially corridos, are basically ballads,” says Del Rio, Texas native Beckmann. “A lot of them were these murder ballads specifically about drug cartel and that world. What I would compare it to is the murder ballad ‘El Paso’ by Marty Robbins, where it’s almost like a movie playing through song. Regional Mexican music and country music, a common thread between those two is the story and the storytelling aspect of it, how a lot of it is centered around lyricism.”
MŌRIAH, a Mexican-American musician, actress and producer who has worked on projects including the film Unsung Hero, and previously earned a top 10 hit on the Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart with her project Brave, just released the new single “Hasta Manana,” which is geared toward a country audience.
“We brought a mariachi band in from Juarez, Mexico, to record this, and I’m so glad they were a part of it,” she says. “My music director said at one point, ‘Mariachi is the folk music of Mexico, and country is the folk of America.’ So, it’s really, it’s not a long bridge to cross once you start kind of finding those connections.”
Much of cowboy culture in the United States comes from Spanish vaquero traditions, including cattle drives, cowboy hats, ranching, lassos and rodeos.
“Vaqueros were the first cowboys and a lot of the American cowboys’ traditions came from them,” says country singer-songwriter and California native Leah Turner, the daughter of a rodeo champion father and a first-generation Mexican-American mother. Turner released This Is Mi, which features bilingual songs, on Oct. 4. “I feel like country music has had such a love affair with the Mexicana culture, and they’ve been dancing for a really long time.”
“At quinceañeras, you’ll have a Tejano song, you have a country song, you have a Norteño song, you have a country song,” says singer-songwriter, journalist and historian Veronique Medrano, who released MexiAmericana in 2023. “We here in deep south Texas have always had a very close relationship to country music. That community that I have at these shows really brings everyone together. I do that very purposefully. I have English and Spanish and bilingual [songs], and I blend those in a set because that is how I walk through the world.”
Throughout the decades, artists with Latin roots have had success on Billboard’s country charts, including Sabinal, Texas native Johnny Rodriguez, who in the 1970s earned multiple Hot Country Songs chart-toppers including “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico” and “You Always Come Back (to Hurting Me),” and was nominated for the Academy of Country Music’s entertainer of the year award in 1974.
Long before Ray, Rodriguez was also featured as part of the Country Radio Seminar’s New Faces of Country Music show, in 1973. Freddy Fender, who is the subject of an exhibit curated by Medrano at the San Benito (Texas) Cultural Heritage Museum, topped the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 with “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” which incorporated verses in Spanish. The song was named the CMA Awards’ single of the year in 1975, while Fender was nominated for male vocalist of the year (his album also earned a nomination for album of the year).
“Teardrop” also topped the Hot Country Singles chart, as did “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” “Secret Love” and “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.” Mexican-American singer-songwriter Linda Ronstadt paid homage to her heritage with albums including Canciones de mi Padre and Mas Canciones. In the 1980s, Rosie Flores charted with songs including “Crying Over You” and “He Cares,” and was nominated for the Academy of Country Music’s top new female vocalist accolade.
In the 1990s, Capitol Nashville artist Emilio Navaira, known as the “King of Tejano,” placed songs on both the Country Songs chart (including his top 30 song “It’s Not the End of the World”) and the Hot Latin Tracks chart. That same decade, Rick Trevino saw his songs including “Learning as you Go” and “Running Out of Reasons to Run” become Country Songs chart hits, while The Mavericks broke through on the mainstream country charts with “What a Cryin’ Shame,” “O What a Thrill” and “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” the latter featuring Flaco Jiménez.
Beckmann hopes he and his fellow artists signal the beginning of a new wave of hitmakers of Latin heritage in country music. “You can probably count on one hand the Johnny Rodriguezes and Freddy Fenders and Rick Trevinos of the world, but it is one of those things where maybe it’s taken this long for it to be the right place at the right time,” he says. “I’m just excited that I’ve got an opportunity to not only put myself out there and showcase my songs, but also help represent the culture of where I’m from and how I was raised.”
