Billboard looks at several artists who are bridging Latin music and country music.
performing “Primera Cita” and “The One ” on the revered Nashville stage, to an audience filled with adoring fans.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.
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 , Andrea Vasquez, Valerie Ponzio and Stephanie Urbina Jones. Texan Matt Castillo recently released his albumand has already made inroads on the Texas Regional Radio Report country chart — earning four No. 1s, including the bilingual songs “Te Necesito” and “Corazon.
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.
“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.”
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