Subtitled "Music of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Southern Arizona," this compilation of 18 tracks from the late 1940s through the early '90s illustrates several aspects of border music. Conjunto music is well-represented, as expected, along with other strains of the Tejano sound that aren't quite as reliant on the usual accordion-dominated arrangements. The great
Lydia Mendoza
is represented with one of her best recordings, the 1954 bolero "Aunque Me Odies," and
Beto Villa Orquesta
with
Carmen y Laura
do a bolero-mambo that's more pop-oriented (in a good way) than the usual Tejano harmony number. The last five tracks are by Native Americans from Southern Arizona, who play "chicken scratch" with casual similarities to the conjunto played by Tejanos, although the arrangements give greater prominence to fiddles and saxophones. This has more variety, and higher quality, than the usual Tex-Mex/conjunto/Tejano/border music compilation, and is recommended to those who want a good sampling of some of the better stuff. Comes with copious annotation. ~ Richie Unterberger