Carin León Makes History at Stagecoach Country Music Festival: Performance Recap and Cultural Impact

Balladeer Carin León continues to find a place in Latin music as one of the most famous performers in regional Mexican music, but she is also quickly gaining the fandom of the music country, performing at the iconic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in February and making history as the first artist to perform exclusively in Spanish at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival this weekend.

“Long live Mexican music, country and all music, which unites us the most,” León told a large crowd during his performance at the Palomino Tent on Friday, April 26.

After going through Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, León took the stage for the third weekend in a row at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. Like the last two weekends, he did so with effortless movement that delighted fans who sang and danced to hits like “Que Vuelvas,” “La Wedding del Huitlacoche” and “Te Lo Agradezco”.

He did not restrict himself to acting in Spanish; his set moved on to his collaborative songs “It Was Always You (Siempre Fueiste Tú)”, with Leon Bridges and “The One (Pero No Como Yo)” with Kane Brown, where he finished it and sang the verses in English to his peers. . It even included a version of “Man in Black” by the rebel Johnny Cash.

There was also a special moment when he invited Ana Barbara, the queen of Grupero Music, to join him to perform “Lo Busqué”, a song they recently shared at the 36th annual Premio Lo Nuestro in Las Vegas earlier this -year. where Barbara accepted a lifetime achievement award.

‘Mexico regional music is having a moment’

The stage coach has increased the diversity of the artists over the years. He has featured several Latin acts, including Los Lobos, Alejandro Escovedo, The Mavericks, The Last Bandoleros, Star De Azlan and Lindi Ortega. However, the inclusion of León in this year’s line-up is the first time that Stagecoach has recruited a major regional Mexican artist to perform a set exclusively in Spanish.

León is one of several artists who are riding a wave of success thanks to the great appeal of regional Mexican music, an umbrella term for several Mexican genres such as mariachi, banda, corridos, norteño, sierreño and others.

Some performers, such as León, have a special disdain for the term and say that lumping together different Mexican genres is a disservice to the individuality of different music. León says the term seems limited to him because it is no longer regional, It extends beyond borders and social classes and tends to be global.

Mid-year report from Cleared by 2023 it showed Mexican regional music as the fastest growing Latin subgenre (up 49% year over year) and produced some of the biggest Latin songs of last year. He also reported a new trend finding that 17% of non-Hispanic audiences liked the genre.

It wasn’t just Latin music that grew. Year end report of Luminate 2023 found that the a country one of the genres that grew the most: Latin increased 21.9% to 75.26 million units and a country increased 21.8% to 92.19 million units.

Nathian Rodríguez, associate professor and associate director of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University, has taught classes that examine how broader culture intersects with identity. Latino/Latinx. Some of their courses include Bad Bunny & Cultural MediaCardi B & Pop Culture Politics and Media Representation Selena & Latinx.

“Mexican regional music is having a moment around the world,” said Rodríguez. “People are not monolithic in the music they listen to, and they’re not just going to listen to a country. “They’re listening to everything and Stagecoach understands that their audience is multicultural and multilingual, and that’s what they’re going to cater to.”

Stacy Vee, Goldenvoice festival’s vice president of talent, said in a recent phone interview that bringing a more diverse lineup to the stage makes the festival better overall. She said the acts were well received and some fans wrote letters of support and thanks.

“I want Stagecoach to be a showcase of creativity and amplifying the voices that make country music in all walks of life,” he said. “I think it’s important that anyone who comes to Stagecoach sees themselves in the line-up.”

Vee said she and others at her parent company, Anschutz Entertainment Group, were impressed with León’s personality and music. She thought it was appropriate for him to play at Stagecoach, so he was added to Coachella.

“He’s breaking down a lot of barriers, selling out stadiums and being a huge star,” Vee said. “Since he’s been added to the lineup, he’s been collaborating with art in the country and I wonder what he’s doing and where he’s going.”

Carin León’s fans scream as she performs on the Palomino stage during the opening day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio on Friday, April 26, 2024.

(Will Lester, Excelsior/SCNG)

Cultural transcendence

The collaborative success and the overlapping interest between Mexican regional music and music a country They can also be understood through history.

Latin artists have been associated with country stars for decades. Some notable collaborations include Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson’s recording of “To All the Girls I Loved Before” and later “Spanish Eyes”. There have also been many Latin artists, such as the Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt, who went on to make music a country successful

The growing global appeal of regional Mexican music includes León’s embrace of country music and his performance on Stagecoach into that historical sequence. It is also part of the experiences of musical artists a country and regional Mexico that leads to the production of their species, which also has its own history.

Rodriguez grew up in Texas and took a required state history course that explored the contributions of many cultural groups and how they influenced its development. Since Texas straddles Mexico and Spanish descent, Native Americans and other groups were present long before statehood, the numbers have encouraged each other. Mexico’s regional genres include Tejano music, which combines Mexican-Spanish vocals with dance rhythms that originated in Czech and German genres such as polka.

“Whether you were white and a farmer or Mexican and a cowboy, you still wore boots, jeans, big buckles and cowboy hats,” Rodriguez said. “Both styles of music, like country and regional Mexico, are also very similar in the songs they sing and the instruments they use.”

León has expressed his admiration for the Tejano genre, especially the late singer Selena Quintanilla, who combined pop, disco and R&B in her work, helping to establish her appeal and legacy around the world. During her weekend one show at Coachella, she wished him a happy birthday, emphasized his importance in music history, and sang a cover of his song, “Si Una Vez.”

“Selena is the epitome of a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-national artist and listener,” said Rodríguez. “When we think of artists today, many of them will say that they got their influence from Selena, or that Selena helped them understand the multicultural and multilingual potential of being an artist and (not having to) stay in your line.”

Country and regional Mexican fans are finding common ground through the cowboy fashion sense and artists like León, whose anthemic ballads of lost love also resonate with fans of all genres.

Liz Ley and Mary Simmons from Yucaipa are friends and showed up to see León’s set. The law does not listen to music country, while Simmons likes both, but is becoming more of a fan of León now that he’s collaborating with the stars of the a country and brings English into his music.

“It brings the other culture here and it goes both ways, and I like that,” said Simmons.

“He belongs here,” Ley said.