Isidro Samilpa...accordion, bajo sexto and vocal

EARLY YEARS

Born on April 4, 1935, like many people from his generation, Isidro spent his youth working in the cotton fields across the state of Texas. Living and working in the rural areas he heard violin, guitar and tololoche(upright bass) music at home-made (house) dances...bailes caseros. At 12 years old, Isidro started picking cotton in West Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma. This is where Isidro fell in love with the accordion. When he was 15, his mother purchased a two-row Hohner for him.

Isidro has been playing around Austin, Texas since the 50's. He cites the music of Camilo Cantu, Pete Guajardo, Mingo Zapata, Manuel Guerrero and Los Hermanos Garcia-Torres as early inspiration. These groups had their start in rural Central Texas...Austin, Lockhart and the Seguin Area which put them in Isidro's neighborhood of clubs and dancehalls around  rural Austin (Kyle,Lockhart,Maxwell).

Camilo Cantu (El Azote de Austin) was considered to be the Narciso Martinez or Santiago Jimenez of this area. His music was pure instrumental...he sat down when he played polkas, redovas, vals, shotis, etc. Isidro learned alot from "Camilito". Mr. Cantu never recorded and often failed to title his original compositions. Today, we have those polkas in the repretoire of many Austin accordion players, Isidro and especially Johnny Degollado who, with the consent of Mr. Cantu,because he had no desire to be credited for his own work, has added many of those polkas to Degollado's own library of original songs.

In the 50's, Isidro would often go to listen to Los Hermanos Garcia-Torres (Los Pavos Reales)...one of his favorites. On a Christmas Eve, one of the brothers fell ill and was unable to sing. Lalo asked Isidro to fill in since he already knew all thier material. Today, Isidro's singing style is reminiscent of Eddie "Lalo" Torres and Salvador T.Garcia.

Accordionist Manuel Guerrero(older brother of Ramz Guerrero de Los Pioneers), who was stationed north of Austin while in the Army at Fort Hood in Killeen. He would often come to Isidro's gigs down on Sixth Street to the Bolero Club for a chance to play Samilpa's new red Hohner. Manuel is best known as one of the first Tejanos to take conjunto music to Europe and one of the first to sing in English (Buck Owens' Open Up Your Heart) and  a Spanish version of (In Heaven there is no Beer?). Isidro's accordion playing has the alegre feeling that was popularized by Manuel Guerrero (and later Flaco Jimenez) with a little laid-back feel of the music from the Rio GrandeValley.

Around 1959, Isidro took a break from playing the accordion. Like most conjunto musicians, Isidro is what you would call a natural musician...not formally trained, playing by ear...and proficiant on all  the instruments for conjunto... accordion, bajo sexto, bass and drums. In the late 60's, he played and recorded on Zarape label from Dallas playing electric bass with his brother-in-law Shorty Ortiz in the popular group Shorty and the Corvettes with thier hit "La Del Moņo Colorado). He also recorded with Los Hermanos Sandoval (Corona label) and also sang Senon Reyes y Conjunto Corona.

The 70's

In the 70's he played bass with Julio Moreno y su Conjunto, later switching back to accordion with Joe Palacios y Los Diamantes and recording a few singles with JOEY Records. He also played accordion with John Salazar y Los Cuatro Nacionales and bajo player Ray Savala( they played every song in A flat!). He reformed the group in the late 80's along with bajo player John Aguilar, Augie Arreola and Manuel Herrera playing in the East side clubs.

He married Angelina Ortiz on June 6, 1954. They raised thier 9 children (7 boys and 2 girls) in South Austin at 3rd and Fletcher. They have 20 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Isidro has worked in the concrete business for over 30 years and at 70, is retired.  

Bradley Jaye Williams...bajo sexto, accordion and vocals

I grew up in the 60's in Saginaw, Michigan where I was exposed to a lot of good music, race riots, hippies, Polack jokes, public school K-9th grade, catholic high school, motorcycle, boat and stock car races, "butch" haircuts on the kitchen table, swimmin' and fishin' in pristine lakes...a good mid-western upbringing.
My dad played the clarinet by ear..ran a coin machine business....pin ball machines, billiard tables and juke boxes. He was a photographer in the Phillipines and New Guinea while serving in the Army/Air Force in WWII. My mom's side of the family are pure Polish...Her father, Karol, was a farmer and a horseman straight from the Old Country. He bought a player-piano for his young family during the Great Depression (he had his priorities straight). He never played it himself but loved music and sang the songs of his youth into a tape recorder a few years before he died. He spoke very little English...but was fluent in Russian and Polish.
There was never a shortage of vinyl recordings around our house.We had a jukebox in the living room and a Victrola, too. As a kid I liked everything about music...Edison cylinders, 45's, old 78's of Harry James, Jonah Jones, Hank Williams, Sr., Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Frankie Yankovic, Marv Herzog, John Phillip Sousa, Lil' Wally, Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Cream, Lil' Stevie Wonder, Buck Owens, ? and the Mysterians, Ray Price, Ferlin Husky...even Lawrence Welk. Polka music was cool only if you were a German, a Pole or a Mexican in my part of the world. It was shunned by a lot of my friends. Yet, just like every other kid on the block, I was into Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, too. I started playing conjunto music in 1986. Naturally, I'm attracted to the polka beat. I love the feeling of simple, natural sounding music and conjunto/polka fulfills that. I dig the heavy,slow heartbeat-paced compas. It's honest, powerful and not pretentious. I also play Cajun accordion, Zydeco and Polish Polka on the Chemnitzer concertina with The Gulf Coast Playboys and The Polkasonics.




Augie Arreola..drums
Born in Pflugerville, Texas on August 28, 1934. He was raised on Austin's East side where he grew up playing baseball and football in the neighborhood lots around his home at 10th and Sabine. He attended Allen Junior High and took up the snare drum in the concert band where he bgan learning the rudiments of music. He also picked up some techniques from his neighbor, Billy Joe Walker who attended the "colored" school and played in the drum and bugle corps.
At 17, Augie got his first job as a busboy and soon began hanging around the cantinas of 6th Street. He started sitting in with a few conjuntos and learning the style. He played and recorded with Ben Garza y Los Alegres Gavilanes and later went on to play with Chon y Lupano Martinez with Los Jilgueros. Back then he'd make $1 an hour plus tips .Beer was 5-10 cents. They would play from 2PM till 10PM and make about $20 a piece at places like The Green Spot, La Bola de Oro and The Austin Bar. He hooked up with his compadre Mario Sauceda from San Antonio when they formed the band Los Capitolinos. They recorded a few sides with the Capris label in the 60's. He also played with Frank Flores, Los Hermanos Aguirre and recorded with Manuel Donley on the Corona label in San Antonio. In the 80's, Augie hooked up with Isidro and they played under the name of Samilpa's old group Los Cuatro Nacionales and later Isidro Samilpa y su Conjunto with John Aguilar, Javier Cruz and Manuel Herrera. In 1993, he became the drummer for Los Pinkys and has been with the band since then.
He was married October 1, 1952 to his wife Mary. They have 4 boys and 1 girl. They are raising 3 grandsons and have a total of 6 grandchidren and 1 great grandchild. They are God-parents to accordionist Sunny Sauceda of Grupo Vida. They have lived in the East side barrio of Montopolos since 1970.


Manuel Herrera...bass
Born on July 6, 1947 in Elgin, Texas. He was raised in this small central Texas town northeast of Austin and still lives there today where he works as a carpenter. As an 8 year-old youth he picked cotton in West Texas and followed the migrant worker's trail as far as Montana to pick beets and toWisconsin to pick cherries with his 3 brothers and 4 sisters. At 14, he started playing norteno music with his brothers in a band with Roy Garza y Los Cuatro Aces. Manuel played drums and worked on 6th Street at places like The Green Spot, Pepino Lounge and the 290 Bar in Elgin. He picked up the electric bass in the early 60's when he joined a rock n' roll band out of Bastrop. He was later drafted into the Army where he served 2 years...1 in Viet Nam. When he returned from military duty, Manuel and his brothers reformed Los Cuatro Aces (1970-76) and later joined up with Los Commandos de Monterey. They recorded numerous 45's, LPs and cassettes for the SAUCE label out of San Antonio. He also worked with Los Principes del Norte, Joe Palacios y Los Diamantes and Ramon Aguilar y Bandolero. He hooked up with Isidro Samilpa when the veteran accordionist started playing again in the late 80's down on East Sixth Street at places like La Esquina Lounge, The Office, Happy Days Lounge #2 and La Bola de Oro. Manuel married his wife, Mary in 1971. They raised thier 3 daughters in Elgin, Texas and have 3 grandchildren. Manuel's bass playing style is influenced by the "valley" sound of Ruben Vela, Los Dos Gilbertos and Gilberto Perez. A hard-working, soft-spoken man, he is one of the top conjunto bass players in the area.


CHENCO FLORES: accordion, voz
Chencho has been a fixture on the Austin conjunto scene since the 50's, playing accordion and singing with his brothers in Frank Flores y Su Conjunto and Los Jilgueros. He worked many years as a professional truck-driver