
About this episode
Ruben Ramos discusses his life and the history of Tejano music.
Ruben Ramos' life story mirrors the history of what we now know as Tejano music. His family's musical roots in Texas go back to 1918, and as a boy he was brought into the family bands, first as a drummer and then as a vocalist. He's been playing big band-inflected Tejano music now for more than six decades, and just released a tribute album tracing that musical lineage, called 'Los Días de Calor.' In this episode, Felix chats with "El Gato Negro" Ramos about the history of Tejano music across the twentieth century, and how his own story fits inside of it. This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
People in this episode
Host: Felix
Guest: Ruben Ramos
Topics covered
- Tejano music
- musical history
- family bands
- big band
- Ruben Ramos
Keywords
- Tejano music
- Ruben Ramos
- Los Días de Calor
- musical lineage
- family bands
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NPR
Books & works: Los Días de Calor
More episodes of Alt.Latino
- The Vaqueros of Hawaii · May 27, 2026 · 34 min
- Gipsy Kings are back, Julieta Venegas' norteña roots and more · May 20, 2026 · 36 min
- Our favorite Latin Tiny Desk Contest entries · May 13, 2026 · 31 min
- El futuro es Milo J · May 6, 2026 · 31 min
- Flamenco meets Música Mexicana · April 29, 2026 · 28 min
- Argentine indie, Venezuelan reggaeton and punk from San Antonio · April 22, 2026 · 29 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Alt.Latino podcast page.