Pop Music Reviews : Hinojosa Tops Texan Bill of ‘Border’ Revue

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  The peso’s sunk and the dollar’s in the bucket, but seldom has the value of a Texas note been higher than it was Thursday night during the Tish Hinojosa-led “Border Tour” revue at the Galaxy Concert Theatre.

Make that a lot of notes--three hours worth, to be exact, sung as often in Spanish as in English during a wide-ranging, all-Texas tag-team show. Featured were Don Walser’s almost other-worldly yodeling on old-line country songs and cowboy ballads, Santiago Jimenez Jr.’s sprightly, unpredictably cadenced accordion dances on traditional Tex-Mex conjunto music, and the adenoidal, Dylanoidal delivery of Butch Hancock, whose kaleidoscopic, insightful and often rousing narratives gave him his own distinctive signature.

And then there was Hinojosa, whose sublime singing could hardly have been more beautiful and pure, or less self-conscious. Hinojosa’s repertoire included beautiful old Mexican folk tunes and some fine, self-penned country numbers and understated, character-driven protest songs about the troubles of Mexican immigrants.

Completely natural, never straining for effect, she grounded herself firmly in the earthy terrain of her styles and subject matter. You might hear more natural singers than Hinojosa, but they’ll likely have feathers and wings.