POP MUSIC REVIEW : THE WILLIE NELSON OF ‘TEX-MEX’

In many of the honky-tonks of Texas, Little Joe Hernandez is probably known as the “Mexican Willie Nelson.”

But it’s just as likely in the cantinas of the Rio Grande Valley and beyond, you’ll find lots of people who think of Nelson as the “Anglo Little Joe Hernandez.”

The similarities between the two singers at this point in their careers are so extraordinary that it’d be fascinating to check into who was most influenced by whom.

Like Nelson, Hernandez--who headlined a concert Friday night at the Olympic Auditorium--was born in rural Texas, has been performing for more than 25 years, sports a gray beard and feels secure enough about his roots to make fun of the stereotypes associated with them (“Redneck Meskin’ Boy”).

Both men cite western swing king Bob Wills as an influence, enjoy an unusually close relationship with their audiences and even call their band Family (for Hernandez: La Familia).

Yet there are significant differences in the music. Where Nelson supplements his country base with an occasional pop standards and frequently employs soulful, almost jazz-like vocal phrasing, Hernandez’s vocals are in a more upbeat, sing-along style and the focus of his show is his own brand of robust “Tex-Mex” music.

A winning aspect of the evening was the communal, dance-minded aura that local rock fans have found so inviting at Los Lobos shows. Indeed, Los Lobos saluted Hernandez a few months ago by having his band share the bill with them at the Palace. Fans felt so at home Friday that a few of them walked on stage while Hernandez was singing and stood next to him while friends took photos.

It’s a testimony to Hernandez’s showmanship and art that he was able to inject any sense of spirit in Friday’s show. Promoters had hoped for 8,000 people, but the crowd in the historic boxing arena/concert facility only totaled about 1,000.

Members of the audience speculated that reasons for the poor turnout ranged from the large number of free events around town during the Cinco de Mayo weekend to the Olympic site itself. “People think of the Olympic as a place you go to see boxing matches, not dances,” said one fan.

For those on hand, however, the chance to see a rare local appearance by Hernandez was too much to pass by. For the almost exclusively 35-and-above Latino crowd, the attraction was more than just a night of music, it was also an evening of memories. Many in the audience were transplanted Texans who first saw Hernandez back home.

Normally, the easiest way for a performer to get a cheer at a concert here is to mention Los Angeles or California, but Hernandez and the other artists on Friday’s bill (including Sunny Ozuna and Johnny Hernandez) were savvy enough to know that the key word this night was Texas .

Manuel Lopez, 49, drove 80 miles from Riverside with his brother-in-law and some friends to see the man Lopez considers the real king of Texas music. Lopez, a carpenter, still remembers the first time he saw Hernandez at the K.C. Hall in Rio Grande City, Tex. “Little Joe has always been great because he sings from the heart,” Lopez said during intermission. “He cares a lot about his fans.”

Hernandez--who was born and still makes his home in Temple, a town in Central Texas just southwest of Waco--helped pioneer tejano music, a mix of traditional nortenos music and the country, blues and rock styles that Hernandez enjoyed as a teen-ager. He’s a first-rate vocalist when singing country songs in English (like Nelson’s “Good-Hearted Woman”) and a forceful, convincing communicator when he switches to Spanish (the bulk of the repertoire).

Yet, Los Lobos fans beware: Hernandez’s music may have been honed in the cantinas, but it’s played now with an eye on the world market. There’s a mainstream, almost Vegas slickness to much of the music that has led to grumbling that Hernandez is sacrificing his roots.

But Hernandez doesn’t seem worried about ethnomusicologists. He’s been delighting regional audiences for so long that he has apparently decided that it’s time to reach for a wider audience.

Fans didn’t seem caught up Friday in this debate. To long-time followers like George Martinez, another former Texan, Hernandez is a folk hero. “(Back home), he’s like Fernando (Valenzuela) is here--only he’s been a hero for 20 years, not just three or four. It’s good to see more people find out about him.”