Quick question: What major urban metropolis has been the most crucial, historically speaking, in the development of that funky accordion-based music known as zydeco?

If you answered New Orleans, you're wrong -- though the Crescent City has done a splendid job of cashing in on zydeco's popularity (and promoting the misconception that Bourbon Street is the center of all things Creole or Cajun, an enormous fallacy embraced by tourists and lazy media types).

Actually it was in the industrial boomtown of mid-century Houston that black Creole immigrants and their descendants first fused the old French Louisiana folk music known as la-la with urban blues to create the new sound of zydeco. Michael Tisserand, author of the definitive book on the genre's history, The Kingdom of Zydeco (Arcade Publishing, 1998), has correctly asserted that the Bayou City's role in the evolution of zydeco is analogous to Chicago's in the development of modern blues.

Yet while "Sweet Home Chicago" (as seminal bluesman Robert Johnson once dubbed it) has long been acknowledged as the capital city of the blues, Houston rarely registers in popular consciousness as the zydeco mecca it once was and still is. Even if one doesn't know the history, consider that in any given week (excepting maybe a few major festival dates in Louisiana) there are more zydeco bands gigging here today than in any other city -- on either side of the Sabine River. Why?

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Houston was the urban incubator in which contemporary Creole dance music came into prominence as a specific genre and where it still evolves today. Ever since the 1920s the thriving petrochemical center here has been the primary destination for thousands of rural immigrants from southwest Louisiana, where the true roots of zydeco are based (not in the southeastern part of the state near New Orleans). Black Creoles, past and present, moved into Houston for the same reason everyone else did: jobs.

In search of improved living conditions, these Creoles -- not to be confused with white Cajuns, an ethnically and musically distinct group -- first settled in enclaves such as Fifth Ward's Frenchtown district. They brought with them the acoustic folk musical idiom la-la, which soon absorbed other influences and evolved into modern zydeco, the progenitor of that syncopated accordion-based sound that has emerged onto the national scene over the last two decades.

Since the mid-1980s zydeco has affected mainstream pop culture, concomitant with a nationwide Creole-Cajun culinary craze. A few examples: Paul Simon's Grammy-winning 1986 album Graceland featured zydeco stalwarts Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters. The 1987 hit film The Big Easy included a vibrant zydeco soundtrack, introducing artists such as Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys to the masses. By 1988 even rock guitar idol Eric Clapton had toured and recorded with Stanley Dural, the accordionist better known as Buckwheat Zydeco. And, of course, the trademark chanka-chank rhythms and squeezebox riffs have surfaced in television and radio commercials for products for everything from Toyotas to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Throughout this ascendancy, Houstonians and outsiders alike have remained largely oblivious to zydeco's fundamental Texas connection. But it was in Houston in the late 1940s that recordings first appeared using variations of the word zydeco (a Creolized corruption of the French phrase les haricots, from a folk expression that translates into "The snap beans aren't salty") to signify a specific form of music or dancing. And it was in the Bayou City also that the now-standard spelling of the term was initially established in print by local folklorist Mack McCormick.

Most important, it was here where Clifton Chenier, the undisputed king of the form, lived, performed and recorded during the most significant developmental stage of his career. "Clifton was the first one to mix it up. Everything was strictly straight Cajun-style music or la-la before him," says accordionist Wilfred Chevis, former Chenier protégé and leader of The Texas Zydeco Band. "La-la was a traditional type of music, laid-back with a slower type of beat. Zydeco has an up tempo, with a little touch of blues to spice it up." By all informed accounts, that fusion of old Creole elements and hot blues licks occurred when French speakers such as Chenier migrated from rural Louisiana into the cultural gumbo of black Houston.

Once relocated to Texas in the 1950s, Chenier also changed the two most basic zydeco instruments, the accordion and the washboard, in ways crucial to the birth of the new sound. Here Chenier abandoned the button accordion and adopted the piano-style chromatic model, which could be played in any key and thus facilitated his musical synthesis of popular blues tunes and Creole sounds. And while working at a Port Arthur oil refinery, Chenier first designed the now-ubiquitous washboard vest to replace the handheld utensil that traditionally had been scraped at house parties for its essential polyrhythmic effect. The newfangled metallic instrument, soon mastered by his percussionist brother Cleveland Chenier, facilitated a wider range of sounds.

Though he had previously made a few recordings, it wasn't until 1964 that Clifton Chenier put on wax the anthem that formalized the z-word as the proper name of the new style of music. He did this for Chris Strachwitz, founder of roots label Arhoolie Records, by way of a serendipitous encounter bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins set up. Strachwitz had earlier made field recordings of Creole music at Houston's DowMcGowen Lounge and Irene's Cafe in 1961 (collected on the Arhoolie CD Zydeco, Volume 1: The Early Years). Then one night three years later Hopkins invited him to go hear his "cousin," and everything changed.

"He took me over to this little beer joint in Houston in an area they call Frenchtown," Strachwitz says. "And here was this black man with a huge accordion on his chest and playing the most unbelievable low-down blues I'd ever heard in my life. And singing it in this bizarre French patois."

Upon being introduced to Strachwitz, Chenier immediately asked to make a record, and they ended up at Gold Star studio the very next day. But to Strachwitz's dismay, Chenier arrived with a full band complete with instruments popular in R&B. The producer craved the pure, stripped-down folk sound he'd heard the night before, but Chenier longed to be hip, not old-fashioned.

"It was always a battle, every time we recorded," says Strachwitz, recalling how Chenier strongly believed he had to emulate popular styles in English to get a hit. "And I begged him to sing in French. So he said, 'Okay, Chris, I'll make you a deal. If you let me cut one side of the album rock and roll,' as he called it, it was really R&B, 'I'll make the other side French for you.' "

That compromise led to a regional hit titled "Louisiana Blues" sung completely in French, followed up shortly by the signature anthem of the genre, "Zydeco Sont Pas Salé." The result, according to Strachwitz, was that Chenier came to think that " 'maybe this French stuff is okay and people'd like to hear this'Š.And he really became proud of his heritage."

While that heritage surely reaches back to Louisiana, its contemporary mode of expression was first achieved and refined in Houston at some of the city's old Frenchtown venues. The most widely known is the Continental Lounge and Zydeco Ballroom, which -- sad to say -- has been closed since the 1997 death of longtime proprietress Doris McClendon. But just a few blocks away on Crane Street, The Silver Slipper still packs the house with authentic zydeco every Friday and Sunday night (though Saturdays are reserved for R&B).

And beyond these venerable clubs another tradition continues, whereby the major black Creole churches in the local diocese take turns sponsoring Saturday-night zydeco dances, rotating them on a regular basis with updates announced weekly in The Catholic Herald.

Of course, since the mid-1980s live zydeco has been featured in clubs and restaurants all over the city. For instance, Chevis does steady work playing for the Pappadeaux restaurant chain. And The Big Easy (a popular blues venue on Kirby) features zydeco every Sunday. The music is also performed regularly at numerous other establishments, from the popular Richmond Strip to Third Ward.

So Houston's largely unpublicized role as urban center of the zydeco universe continues to this day. Most significant, the city is home base not only to established past masters but also to a younger generation of streetwise, hip-hop-influenced bands such as J. Paul Jr. and the Zydeco Newbreeds, Lil' Brian Terry and the Zydeco Travelers, and Step Rideau and the Zydeco Outlaws.

An in-demand national performer and recording artist, the 33-year-old Rideau -- like Chenier, Chevis and many others before him -- was born in Louisiana but came of age as a player only after migrating to Texas. Despite popular misconceptions to the contrary, he knows he's at the center of the action. "Houston is the true zydeco city," he says. "New Orleans isn't. It's jazz and all that other stuff. But this is where it's really at for zydeco."

Roger Wood contributes the chapter on southeast Texas zydeco in the forthcoming The History of Texas Music: From the Beginnings till 1950 (Texas A&M University Press).

The Continental Club has always been a home for the best rock and roll around and a real musicians venue where artists not only play often, but also come out in support of each other.

The club has also been a hub for rockabilly and Latino artists from the city and in a fitting reflection of this, Houston’s own The Flamin’ Hellcats will perform with special guests Shame On Me on Saturday, April 24.

“It should be a barn burner,” says lead singer and guitarist Jaime Marroquin enthusiastically. The Flamin’ Hellcats made a name for themselves in the '90s and early 2000s as a fast playing, hard partying band that would leave ears ringing for days.

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The band, originally formed in 1992, doesn’t play too often these days as Marroquin has a full time job selling cars and bassist Lawrence Cevallos is busy with other bands, mainly playing bass with The Broken Spokes.

“They thought the same thing I was thinking, that I would get a job and I'd be miserable,” says Marroquin of his transition from the stage to the showroom. “But as soon as I found out that I could sell cars, all I do is talk about how badass the Hellcat car is, I can't believe I get to do this shit.”

An obvious assumption would be that the band was named after the fast car, but the name actually came from the WWII fighter plane the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the origin of the band name Led Zeppelin who famously joked they would go down like a lead balloon.

Marroquin clarifies with a laugh that the band name was not meant to symbolize that they rocked, but that they sucked and would go down like a ill fated Flaming Hellcat.

He says that they frequently get asked about the band being together or not due to the time between performances and albums to which he replies laughing, “I’m not sure if the band is together. We’ve broken up like 30 times, it’s like a bad relationship but we are all buddies,” he laughs.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the band reunited for a one-night benefit show at the East End Brewery in an attempt not only to raise funds for a friend but also to gauge the interest remaining in the city for their live show.

To their surprise, the entire venue was packed and the next day they were flooded with messages about the show and from disappointed fans who couldn’t get in. “We were sort of patting ourselves on the back,” says Marroquin. “I guess we still have a little bit of a draw.”

The Flamin’ Hellcats brand themselves proudly and accurately as “101 percent Texas Vato-Billy”, a slogan which caught the attention of another rockin’ Texan, Billy F. Gibbons.  They are made up of Houston kids, all from Milby High School’s marching band and all from Mexican descent, which Marroquin explains is not a prerequisite to join the band but simply how the chips fell.

The band has funneled sounds and influences from ska, punk, rock, and swing with a Latino kick and built their fan base around their unforgettable and high energy live performances. The Flamin’ Hellcats successfully captured the ‘90s rockabilly revival combined with the long tradition of cross pollination between Texas music and punk rock made most famous by The Clash.

In their heyday, The Flamin' Hellcats could be found playing in and around Houston and were frequent headliners at the now-defunct rock and roll clubs that lined Washington Ave.  They even ended up on the soundtracks for Varsity Blues and The Third Wish. 

He credits his musical influences to an old car he owned in Lubbock that had the station stuck on KTXT, which exposed him to artists like Nirvana, Tracy Chapman, Screaming Trees and Reverend Horton Heat who the band went on to play with multiple times.

“None of that at the time was being played on regular radio, which I would have been listening to if at the time I wasn’t being forced to listen to KTXT.”

Marroquin chuckles remembering how a teenage Cevallos who was working as a stock boy at Kroger’s approached him boldly telling him that he would play in his band one day. “We’ve had the band forever and he's been my bass player for the longest.”

“As soon as he played, they just sounded perfect,” says Marroquin of his songs. “Other bass players are great, but Lawrence is just perfect to me.”

Marroquin started the band in Lubbock and admits he has gone through his fare share of drummers saying, “We are the Mexican version of Spinal Tap.” After the passing of their former drummer Dallas Jay Hinojosa, also known as DJ Hellcat, the band tried out countless drummers with no luck.

One day, they asked Guillermo Cavazos to sit in with them and when he played each song note for note Marroquin and Cevallos were shocked and amazed.

“He nails all the songs,” says Marroquin of that initial practice. “I mean songs that we would get into arguments with other drummers about missing the breaks and missing the drum beats, he nails it all.”

Marroquin describes looking at Cevallos in disbelief and asking him what was going on when Cavazos told them that he had practiced drums alongside DJ Hellcat for years previously and that’s how he knew their songs.

“It’s perfect,” says Marroquin of the partnership. “He’s just not impressed with us which makes it work.”

“I was working on another project and I had all these new songs written and part of me was just like, damn it, I just wish the Hellcats were doing this.” The band is working on a new album tentatively and ironically titled Better Late Than Never due out later this year and hopefully a sign of more live shows to come.

When asked if the new album will be in line with the classic Hellcats sound of fire and fury Marroquin says, “We really can’t change. If I go play with another band, it’s still going to sound like the Hellcats cause it’s me. When the three of us get together the music may change a little bit, but you can always tell it’s the three of us. It’s just fun. I forget how much I love playing and then we get together and I just lose myself.”

The Flamin' Hellcats will perform with Shame On Me Saturday, April 24 at The Continental Club, 3700 Main. Doors open at 6 p.m. show starts at 7 p.m. outdoor, seated and masked concert, first come first served, $10 cash at door.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of American adults have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Concerns over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine notwithstanding, this is good news for live music fans who are eager to return to our beloved local venues. While we wait for Harris County to lower its threat level, here are the best concert options for the next week — many of which are in-person.

Riff Raff
Scout Bar – 22 April
It’s hard to distinguish between those who are genuinely captivated by Riff Raff’s music and who’s just along for the wacky ride, but the Dallas native - who is also known as Jody Highroller and The Neon Icon - has developed a cult following with his unique brand of nonsensical hip-hop over the past decade. The self-declared “rap game Chuck Norris” is scheduled perform in-person at Scout Bar tomorrow night.

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Aaron Watson
Frio Grill – 23 April
Aaron Watson describes his new album, Red Bandana, as a collection of tracks that are “old-school but timeless.” The native Texan’s latest release is a culmination of 20 years of experience as a singer-songwriter, and it boasts an ode to Red Steagall, whom Watson considers both a mentor and friend. Watson will perform a concert this Friday at Frio Grill for the Texas Strong Concert Series, proceeds from which will benefit the non-profit Feeding Texas.

Badfish
House Of Blues – 23 April
Bradley Nowell died of a drug overdose in 1996, but his band’s music remains adored 25 years on. Approximately six million people still listen to the Sublime on Spotify every month, keeping the Long Beach trio’s funky fresh rhymes alive and well long after Nowell’s tragic passing. Fans can see Badfish – one of Sublime’s most renowned cover bands – celebrate 20 years of honoring the late Nowell at House of Blues this Friday.

Korn
Live-Streaming – 24 April
Last year, nu-metal pioneers Korn released their 13th studio album, The Nothing, to critical acclaim. The band has been a household name for the better part of three decades, and their bass-heavy anthems – which have been mixed, remixed and even paired with dubstep over the years – have kept the California quartet afloat within a genre that has otherwise all but disappeared. They are scheduled to live-stream a concert from Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.

Raul Malo
The Heights Theater – 27 April
If you think combining neotraditonal country, rockabilly and Tejano music sounds messy, then you clearly haven’t heard of The Mavericks, a Grammy- and Country Music Association-Award winning group from Miami. The outfit’s front man and primary songwriter Raul Malo – who boasts seven solo albums – is scheduled to perform twice at The Heights Theater next week, where he will showcase his lush baritone in an intimate setting for what should be a memorable couple of evenings.

Just a year ago Canadian transplant and Austin sweetheart Whitney Rose was celebrating the release of her fourth album, We Still Go To Rodeos with a busy touring schedule opening up for Mavericks front man, Raul Malo when all things came to a halt, including rodeos.  Rose herself was scheduled to play one in Dallas.  

“Normally I would have been to 15 different countries promoting it and playing the songs live so it was definitely a weird release,” says Rose who is getting ready to finally bring these songs to audiences at her rescheduled dates with Malo.

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“I feel bad for it, “says Rose of her beautiful album We Still Go To Rodeos. “It’s like a middle child,” she laughs. “I’ll continue to play those songs for a long time but also there's just something in me that needs to do something new and so I'm in the very, very early stages of working on a new record.”

Malo and Rose will be playing The Heights Theater for their rescheduled two-night run on Tuesday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 28 with two shows a night, an early and late show. The Heights Theater has been maintaining its live music with socially distanced and masked indoor shows.

“I'm excited to be on a stage with real live people in front of me, making music with my friends and also employing my band. I was so excited to get the call for these rescheduled shows because I haven't been able to employ my band, and that really means the world to me. Also, just being on the road, it's not always glamorous, but it's a lifestyle and I've gotten used to it and I miss it like crazy.”

Throughout the pandemic, Rose has performed online and says she has been overjoyed and surprised by the supportive messages and donations made by fans.  The Houston show will be her first time back in front of an audience since November when she took part in the farewell concert series at Austin's Threadgill's aimed at celebrating the historic venue before it sadly closed its doors for good.

“That was a tough show, not musically because I had my band. That was my last public performance and I was just so, so overwhelmed. Usually I get overwhelmed and I can rein it in, but this night I just could not,” says Rose solemnly.

“I was thinking about Threadgill's closing, I was thinking about how basically this is the last time in the foreseeable future that I'm going to be able to employ my band who I love dearly and I don't know the next time that I’m going to be on the stage either.”

“I was just so overwhelmed. It was embarrassing, it was awful and I tried to hide it but that just kind of made it worse so I just let it go for a second, had a little cry and tried to push forward.”

Rose was thrilled when she received the call to push forward yet again and return to the stage for these few Texas dates with Malo, a longtime friend and collaborator. Malo produced Rose’s 2015 release, Heartbreaker Of The Year.

“He’s one of my greatest friends,” says Rose. “I don't know what I’d do without him, whether it's that I just need a laugh or  some career advice, he's there immediately. He’s a good guy to have in your corner and he's a good guy to have in any room because he's hilarious.”

It was through her friendship with Malo and the success in the United States of Heartbreaker Of The Year that Rose ended up in Austin where she has lived since 2015. Malo scored Rose with a two-month residency at Austin’s Continental Club.  She says from day one she knew she would be hanging her hat in the capital city.

“It's one of the greatest honors of my life,” says Rose of her residency. Though Austin’s Continental Club is not open yet, she is hopeful and eager to return to her spot there. Despite the hardships felt throughout Austin due to the pandemic, her appreciation for the city which embraced her so warmly, has not waned.

“I love it. I came late, I moved here in 2015 and so people said to me then, and still say to me now, that it's a completely different city from what it once was but I still love it. I don't see myself leaving anytime soon.”

Rose quickly made herself at home in Austin’s busy music scene with her sweet and classic country sound. Rose’s voice naturally packs a soulful punch taking listeners into each story she weaves with her songs, whether originals or well selected covers she’s come to be known for.

Though Texans may not think of Canada as an obvious place to be exposed to southern sounds, Rose from a young age was immersed in country music through her family and began singing at a very early age, possibly explaining her dynamic voice which pours out in a seemingly effortlessly manner.  

“I don’t know if I had the typical Canadian upbringing. My mother was very young when she had me so my mother and I lived with my grandparents who are huge, huge country music fans. They owned a bar and it was just country music at the house and at the bar all the time so I come by it honestly.”

Rose remembers nights at home as a three-year-old child where her family’s “kitchen parties” would awaken her. She’d crawl out of her little bed and sing old country songs for one dollar a piece. “I loved it, I lived for those nights,” says Rose. “My grandmother jokes that I was singing before I was talking.”

Whitney Rose will perform with Raul Malo Tuesday, April 27 and Wednesday April 28 at The Heights Theater, 339 W. 19th. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for the early show and 8:45 p.m. for the late show, all performances are Sold Out.

For more than a dozen years, Hyro The Hero has been on a journey that’s whisked him from southeast Houston to places across the globe. Like a modern-day Odysseus, he’s fought to get respect. Hyro’s chosen battlefield is the treacherous music industry and he’s been victorious thanks to persistence and a cunning fusion of hip hop and rock music. Like the legendary Greek king, this Hero has returned home, both literally and artistically.

“It’s amazing just seeing my friends and family. I’ve been gone, in L.A. for 13 years, and what brought me back to Houston was the lockdown,” he said. “I ain’t touring, so I said I might as well come back and spend some time with my family.”

The downtime slowed Hyro’s tour schedule but allowed him to fine tune some songs which he’s amassed into a mixtape, a nod to his Houston/hip hop roots. Slated for release later this year, several tracks from the mixtape, dubbed Kids Against the Monsters, have already been released and showcase some of modern rock’s most notable names.

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“Having the career I’ve had, I’ve done amazing things, so when that stopped I had one of my biggest tours ever in America (scheduled). It was me, Asking Alexandria, Falling in Reverse and Wage War, so I was super excited, me and my band, and then it just stopped. I was like, ‘No fucking way,’” he said of last year’s events. “Luckily enough I recorded these tracks that y’all are hearing with (From First to Last’s) Matt Good who produced ‘We Believe’ and ‘Fight’ and ‘Retaliation Generation’ and ‘Legendary’ and other songs y’all are gonna hear.

“Luckily, I was able to finish that pre-COVID and in that time frame I knew everybody was at home,” he said. He and his manager explored guest features for the tracks. The roster includes Disturbed vocalist David Draiman, Brandon Saller of Atreyu, Ice Nine Kills’ Spencer Charnas and Chad Gray of Hellyeah and Mudvayne, which recently announced its reunion from a 12-year hiatus.

“The amazing part about that is I’ve put so much work into my career and gained so much respect that it’s a crazy feeling to have these people jump on my record. They’re literally exposing me to their fan base and it just shows the respect they have for me, you know what I’m saying? So, I’m really happy about that.

“I’m treating rock how a rapper would treat a mixtape, bringing all these features and just having fun. I think a feature is the standing point about that. A mixtape within rock and roll, done hip hop style, is fucking crazy,” he said. “It’s like full circle for me because I was sampling rock music. Now I’m not sampling anymore. I actually have a David Draiman, I have a Chad Gray, I have Brandon, I have Spencer. You know, it’s just crazy, you feel me?”

Hyro said his fusion of hip hop and rock goes back to his high school days. He grew up near Broadway and said he attended Milby High School.

“During high school a girl broke up with me so I was real mad and I was like, ‘Man, I’m rapping already, I gotta change it up right now,’ so I changed the station and heard rock music and I was like, ‘You know, I’m gonna scream at her on rock.’ So, I took a rock song, sampled it and then, hey, that’s where I’m at.

“That’s what took me out to L.A. At that time, it was like you had to go to L.A. or New York to pursue your career,” he said. “I went to L.A., started pursuing everything, made a dope record with Ross Robinson called Birth, School, Work, Death that took me around the world and a few years later I made Flagged Channel that had ‘Bullet’ that went to a million plays and all kinds of crazy stuff. That helped me to get signed to Better Noise right now where we’re at with this new mixtape called Kids Against the Monsters, man.”

“And I’m back in Houston,” he said, “hometown Hero back.”

Hyro describes his sound as “a new version of Rage (Against the Machine) in a whole different way with 808’s and trap sounds.” That fusion earned him a following among his peers, the artists who are featured on the album.

“I gave Chad the songs, I just let him pick which one he wanted and he chose ‘Fight’ and he literally took it to a whole ‘nother level, things that I wouldn’t think you would do to the song, his mind goes in a different direction and does it,” he said. “Same with David Draiman. I sent him that song and I was singing the chorus. When I sent the song, I thought, ‘Okay, he’s gonna take me off the chorus and he’s gonna sing.’ Well, no. He sang along with me, so now I’m singing with one of the greatest singers in the world!”

That song is titled “We Believe” and it feels timely, with social commentary and a call for armchair activists to get off the Internet and into action. There’s a line in the song that summons the murder of George Floyd and countless others.

“The crazy part is I wrote ‘We Believe’ four years ago. It’s crazy that it still goes on now,” he said. “I like to tell people that I wrote that song at that time because I say, ‘I can’t breathe!’ but I was talking about something totally different because George Floyd didn’t happen yet.”

Timing is something artists notice, especially artists like Hyro The Hero, artists who keep grinding. He looked back at how he started, what he expected when he moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and what the current, exciting project might mean for his future.

“When I came up, I was just straight hip hop, that’s where I come from,” he said. “I changed the radio station and heard Nickelback and I was like, ‘Yo, that’s rock and roll.’ That took me to dive deeper and then I started getting into Fishbone and I was like, ‘Oh, shit, they’re Black!’ Fishbone, Bad Brains, then I got to At the Drive-In, which is one of my favorites. Then I got to Rancid, you know, they had the tattoos and everything. I fell into a bunch of different stuff.”

Some of that stuff was from Houston's hip hop artists. They showed the kind of following an earnest, innovative rapper could build here. He’s not sure he has that kind of traction in Houston. He’s played shows across the globe, been on massive tours like Disrupt Festival and has earned accolades from BBC and Afropunk but is still working to accumulate hometown fans.

“I always say when it comes to DJ Screw and Paul Wall and all these people who made it, I always wanted to have that type of movement within Houston,” Hyro said. “I wish I had that type of movement that DJ Screw and everybody created. That would have been epic. Don’t know if I have that but maybe when I come back around I can measure it, especially with everything going on right now. But I always have fun shows in Texas.”

Hyro is hoping to draw more hometown fans with his new mixtape, Kids Against the Monsters

Photo by Travis Shinn, courtesy of Better Noise Music

“You know how we are, man. I’ve got Texas tattooed on my neck. I’ve gotta represent all the time,” he said with a knowing laugh.

There’s value in the long game, putting in the work to become someone followed by generations of fans. Hyro has learned this, it’s the subject of one of his new tracks. Like Odysseus, he’s building a name for the ages from an epic journey.

“There was a moment in time where I thought, man, maybe I’m not doing this right. At the beginning, when I first moved to L.A., I thought I was gonna be a big superstar and all this stuff. But then I learned how the music industry is. You have to work your way, wet your feet – even though you see a one-hit wonder, you don’t know what that one-hit wonder did to get that one hit you know, the hard work they put in to get that one hit. They didn’t just pop up on the scene.

“So, I learned a lot of that kind of stuff. And I also learned it’s not about no one hit,” he said. “I’m cementing my name in here. That’s what ‘Legendary’ is about with Brandon, trying to cement my name – and sometimes that takes some time. And, I’m doing something so different it’s gonna take a while for it to get there, but it’s all happening now.

“The way society is now, genres are mixed up, so now it’s even more of an openness to it. I’m not mad at the direction I took, I love the direction. I could have been just straight rapping and maybe been a big superstar, but then it probably wouldn’t have been this lane that I’m doing that I’ve made my own self.

“It’ll last longer, I feel like it’s gonna last longer,” he concluded. “I’m creating this fan by fan, slowly, and then I can rock out forever like fucking Aerosmith, when I’m old as hell, trying to jump off a speaker.”