- I'm gonna try to see
if I can have somebody make a plaque for you.
- Oh. (laughs)
That says world's worst conjunto player.
With over 700,000 miles of highway,
Texas has more room to roam than anywhere else in America.
But with so much to see,
it's easy to forget to stop and listen.
Today we are going in search
of the rhythm and soul of the state.
This is All Roads Lead to Texas,
Sounds of the Lonestar State.
Whenever I am traveling to a place,
I try and zoom into its soundscape.
The sound of a place is its soul to a degree.
(lively music)
- The original conjunto is here in San Antonio.
This is a capto of the conjunto.
My papa, Don Santiago, the story
of a Victorian lady, 1928, 30.
I learned the accordion when I was 15 years old.
- How many albums have you played on?
- No bragging, I have 85 CDs recorded.
I've been on the Grammy's three times
and I had a lot of 45 RPM.
Try it out.
(slow accordion music)
- Wow. Man, he's gonna get a Grammy for that.
- I'm gonna get kicked out of the neighborhood for that.
- I think my future as a conjunto musician
is not very bright.
Maybe I'm best just sticking to listening to music
rather than playing it.
I am in the gospel archive at Baylor University
which is the only gospel archive in country.
- We've been collecting disks, we've been digitizing disks
and we've been building a digital collection.
- It looks like 1956.
For some of your students,
this might be the first record they've played.
- [Stephen] Most definitely.
- What do you guys do to get it through the steps-
- [Stephen] Sure, Sure. - And into the archive?
- The first step of the process is to clean the disks.
- Ew ew. It's kind of like weirdly, like a dental cleaning.
- [Stephen] Yep. It's clean.
- And then the next would be digitization, I would-
(scratchy old-time music)
How many records do you think you've digitized?
- Maybe close to a thousand.
- So you just get to sit here and listen to records all day.
- [Stephen] Yeah. - Hmm.
It's a special thing to have preserved this piece
of musical history.
(lively music)
We are driving into Luckenbach, Texas,
which is like a tiny little town
that is now this like central gathering place
for people picking on like a steel string guitar,
singing sad songs about love and loss.
I'm into that.
- I've been coming here about 15 years.
Been playing here for the last five years.
- I may be trying to participate in some music today.
- Yeah, you're gonna sing a song
with me over at the Picker's Circle here shortly.
- I wouldn't call myself a musician.
- You'll be singing with me, singing the-
♪ I like them old school, good ol' country songs ♪
- I like them old school-
- [Both] Good ol', country songs.
♪ I can't help it if these new kids don't turn me on ♪
♪ I like them old school, good old country songs ♪
- And we'll do that twice.
♪ I like them old school, good old country songs ♪
- Singing in front of people?
That's a whole other thing.
♪ I like them old school, good ol' country songs ♪
- Underwhelming. (laughs)
- I hope he comes up tonight
and sings the old school with the band.
If he can remember the words, I think he's got it.
- I'm listening to the lyrics so I can sing them tonight.
♪ Old school ♪
- [Camaraperson] All right. You ready?
- No.
(lively country music)
Luckenbach has like a motto.
Everybody's somebody in Luckenbach.
I really felt that today.
♪ I like those old school, country music songs ♪
- Glen is not gonna invite me to join the band.
No, but I do think I got a lotta tips.
Maybe I could be the like professional tip collector.
I could do that job.
Singing? I think this is a one time,
this is a one time deal.
♪ I like those old school, good ol' country songs ♪
- Some people come not knowing what they're getting into.
We try to make 'em have a good time.
I think everybody's somebody.
- Conjunto, gospel, country.
Texas is rich in many things.
But the sound of Texas, maybe more than anything else,
booms out loud.
(lively music)
(car whooshing by)