It’s fun to set a cross-country car journey to the music of the regions you pass through. John Prine should be played on a loop as you pass through Illinois and Western Kentucky, with “Paradise” cranked in Muhlenberg County. Western Tennessee slides by nicely with the Sun Box for accompaniment, while Mississippi and Louisiana are chock-full of landscapes that cry for blues and zydeco, respectively. In Texas, George Jones suits the Big Thicket and Beaumont; Willie, the Hill Country; and (who else but) any or all of the Flatlanders are as Panhandle as a giant beefsteak. Former Houstonian and part-time Galvestonian Bianca DeLeon aims to stake her claim on the Brush Country south of Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Her debut CD, Outlaws and Lovers, combines Spanish and English lyrics and Mexican and Texan musical styles into a dish that is as South Texan as huevos rancheros. DeLeon, who grew up near Corpus, was initiated by her mother into the fine art of tequila smuggling as a preteen, and this authenticity shows in the disc. There are also guest appearances by Redd Volkaert, Joe Ely, Teye and Joel Guzman, among others, who enliven one of 2001’s most exciting, well-conceived Texas debuts.
This article appears in Oct 18-24, 2001.
