“Max Baca is an American original. The music he makes is indistinguishable from the life he has lived, and it could never have happened anywhere else in the world.”—Daniel Sheehy, curator emeritus, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
“I love this book for its freshness, its enthusiasm. It is a life story, not just of Max Baca but of many of the musicians who perform the border music of the lower Río Grande Valley and beyond. It tells of gigs from border bars to concert halls in Europe and battlefields in Afghanistan. It reveals the spirit of a culture founded in family tradition, honor in friendship, and love of music. Read this book and listen to the music of the borderlands. It’s beautiful.”—Jack Loeffler, author of Headed into the Wind: A Memoir and coauthor of La Música de los Viejitos: Hispano Folk Music of the Rio Grande del Norte
“Max Baca’s memoir offers an invaluable contribution to the very thin body of memoirs written by nonwhite musicians who have been key figures in the historical development of Hispanic musical cultures in the United States.”—Ana R. Alonso-Minutti, coeditor of Experimentalisms in Practice: Music Perspectives from Latin America
