Texas Music Museum preserves musician histories from the past of Tejano

*This is awesome! VL

By Grace Speas, The Daily Texan (3 minute read)

Legendary Tejano accordionist Bruno Villarreal was sitting in a nursing home, blind, unable to walk and without his instrument. But when social work professor Clayton Shorkey gifted him a small accordion, he came to life.

Shorkey and fellow researcher Rudy Martinez compiled the stories of Tejano musicians like Villarreal the same way they set up the Texas Music Museum — slowly and with great attention to detail. The museum, which became incorporated in 1984, displays genres of music that have historically gone under-researched, creating what Shorkey’s longtime friend Jim Turbett described as the “Library of Congress” of Austin music.

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It took Shorkey 30 years to conduct interviews of Tejano legends, many of whom have since passed away. He was able to persevere knowing that the project was time-sensitive and relevant to Tex-Mex culture. READ MORE