Tish Hinojosa
Tish Hinojosa is a Mexican-American Singer Songwriter born in San Antonio Texas and living most recently in Austin, Texas. She is the youngest of 13 children born to two Mexican immigrants who, as stated in her song “West Side of Town,” “made a good life the hard way…”
Her songs blend the genres of country, folk and Hispanic music in a way that can only be described as a musical melting pot; unique and insightful. She sings and writes in Spanish and English and has many bilingual songs, including a full album of children’s songs that has often been used by teachers as a tool for teaching the Spanish language. The Chicago Tribune put it succinctly “Simply put, Hinojosa is a first-class songwriter.”
Hinojosa started playing guitar and singing in her early years of high school at 14. She was influenced by her Mexican parents’ kitchen radio with its eclectic Latino programming, her older sisters sixties records and the seventies folk rock she grew up with. By the time she started college she was playing gigs at local coffee houses and student gatherings on campus.
In 1979 she was invited to sing at the Kerrville Folk Festival, but was also required to present some original songs. Even though she had never written before, she won the New Folk Songwriters contest that year and launched her career as a writer.
Tish moved to Northern New Mexico in 1979, to follow her friends and mentors Bill and Bonnie Hearne where she learned about country music and gathered experience as a singer, a writer, a band leader as well as a back-up singer for fellow Texan Michael Martin Murphey.
In New Mexico she also met her former husband, Craig Barker and decided to try her hand at singing and songwriting in Nashville. While there, she worked as a demo singer for Mel Tillis’ publishing company alongside legendary songwriter and producer Buddy Cannon. She had her first child Adam, in Nashville in 1984.
After a couple of years on the Nashville scene Hinojosa and her young family decided that “Music Row” wasn’t the right answer and returned to New Mexico, where she gave birth to her second child, Maria (Nina) in 1987. They eventually decided to relocate to Austin, Texas where there was a growing and vibrant “Alternative Country” music scene.
Just after the move to Texas, Tish decided to give Nashville one final shot. She drove all night with her babies and a niece in the car for help and moral support and presented some of her original songs at a songwriters showcase at the famed Bluebird Café.
After the session she was approached by an A&M record executive with the coveted words, “I like what I heard.” A few months later she was signed by her first major record label (A&M) and her national and international career were on their way. She released her first studio album Homeland the next year.
This album met with great success and ultimately one of the songs “Adonde Voy,” was covered by Linda Ronstadt. It became a multi-platinum release in Korea for Tish.
Her songs have been covered by other artists; she has written and worked with, Peter Rowan, Joan Baez, Chris Hillman, Booker T. Jones, Kris Kristofferson and Pete Seeger.
Hinojosa’s music catalog now includes 14 studio albums as well as live albums and retrospectives. She has played at the White House for President and Mrs. Bill Clinton and at The Texas Governor’s mansion for then Governor George W. Bush. She was inducted into the Texas Songwriters Association Music Legends Hall of Fame in 2018. She was awarded membership to The Texas Institute of Letters, as only the second songwriter ever to be given the honor of membership, in 2019.
Throughout her career Tish has contributed her talent to numerous causes such as bilingual education, immigration, and farm workers rights. She continues in these endeavors today.
Hinojosa has toured extensively throughout the United States, North America, Europe and Korea in her 40 plus year career. She moved to Hamburg, Germany in 2005 where she gained a greater appreciation of European city life and the deep history and culture of that continent. She returned to Austin in 2013.
She now splits her time between Austin, Texas and Tubac, Arizona with her husband Lynn, and loves being “Abuelita” to her 4 grandchildren ranging from 13 years to 16 months (with number 5 on the way).
Currently Tish is ramping up her solo career and tour dates after an 18-month hiatus due to COVID. She also continues to play and write with her Latina music trio The Texicana Mamas, (launched in 2018) who released their first album in 2020, amid the pandemic. Coincidentally, their initial gig was played at the Bluebird Café; they have since played at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in early 2020 (just pre-pandemic) and will grace the stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in September 2021. They are slated to headline at the Kerrville Folk Festival in October of this year (2021). This group will tour together as soon as conditions allow.
"Simply put, Hinojosa is a first class songwriter"
- CHICAGO TRIBUNE -
Tish Hinojosa is a singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas. Hinojosa’s blend of folk, country, Latino, and pop has an undeniable far reaching appeal, garnering her accolades such as a White House concert at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton and teaming up with artists such as Joan Baez, Booker T. Jones, Flaco Jimenez, Pete Seeger, and Dwight Yoakam.
She has recorded as an independent artist as well as for A&M, Warner Bros, and Rounder Records and has been a featured artist on Austin City Limits, A Prairie Home Companion and other NPR programs.
With seventeen CDs to her name, Tish’s distinct sound has gained her much critical acclaim. Tish has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe and continues to draw a loyal and growing audience.