Gina Chavez

One Liner: Local Spanish music

Poster Position: 20
Slot: Friday at 4:45

Thoughts:  She's got a damn pretty voice, but I've got no clue what she is saying on a bunch of these tracks, so I can't really provide much guidance here.  See, the problem is that I'm an idiot.  I wish I could go back to 7th grade Jack and kick him in the balls for deciding to take French instead of just taking Spanish like any normal freaking Texan kid. Sadly, I think I did it to follow a girl.  La femme. So now, I can order strawberries or potatoes or ask what time it is, in stupid French, but I can't vibe along with this lovely lady as she sings in Spanish OR act like an insufferable prick by ordering my Mexican food in high school Spanish with lots of rolling of the R.  "Hola, seniorrrrrita!  Yo quiero dos of them there migas tacos con flour, extra queso, por favorrrrrrrrr.  Muy pronto!"  Well, actually, I could do that part, but anyway, I don't speak Spanish and its dumb.  J'demand le poisson, sil vous plait.  Idiot.

Two albums, 2007's Hanging Spoons and 2014's Up.Rooted.  All ten of her most popular tracks on Spotify are from the newer album, so I guess we know which one hits the audience ears better.  But wait!  Don't just click away from here, some of this is in English! And its pretty!  Here is "Fire Water," which has 16k listens on Spotify.

Like a nice song from a Glee group for a bit.  "The Sweet Sound of You" is also damn pretty. Oh snap!  Tiny Desk?  TINY DESK!

The first track on there is that same "Fire Water" track and hot damn.  She fine.  And she sounds great.  All sort of soul and groove in a very stripped down track.  According to the information on her website, I have my damn head in the sand since I've never heard of her.  "An eight-time Austin Music Award winner, Chavez and her band swept the 2015 awards, winning Musician of the Year, Album of the Year (Up.Rooted), Song of the Year (“Siete-D”), Best Latin Band, and the Esme Barrera Award for Music Activism and Education, while placing in six other categories."  Dang.  She is Austin music.  The mouth trumpet she plays at about 8:30 in the Tiny Desk is fantastic.  How awesome is that?  I play a pretty mean mouth trumpet myself.  Can't speak Spanish but I can play the mouth horn! Jack for the win!

Her most popular track on Spotify is also the last song on that Tiny Desk, called "Siete-D."  Its got just under 30k streams on Spotify, so I guess I'm not alone in missing out on this gal, but she deserves more listens.  I just wish I knew what she was saying in this song.

I may not understand, but it don't stop my hips from moving all over the place.  Funny thing is that I could actually go catch some of her set.  Once Foals is over, I can wander over and check out what she has going on, while very purposefully avoiding going anywhere near Tory Lanez or St. Lucia.