This Week in Texas Music History: Roy Montelongo
This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a musician whose legacy quite literally helped leave a trail for others to follow.
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On March 19, 2004, the Tejano Artist Music Museum honored Roy Montelongo with its Pioneer Award. Montelongo was born September 21, 1938, in Hays County, just south of Austin. At age fifteen, he followed in his father’s footsteps by joining Beto Villa’s band as a saxophonist. Montelongo also played with Isidro López and Alfonso Ramos before striking out on his own in 1964. As a singer and saxophonist, Montelongo appeared regularly on radio and recorded more than twenty albums during his career.
In 1991, Roy Montelongo was inducted into the Tejano Music Hall of Fame. More recently, the Austin Latino Music Association commemorated this pioneering artist with the “Roy Montelongo Scenic Overlook” on its Trail of Tejano Legends.
Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a singing schoolteacher whose hit song landed him in the national spotlight.
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