Tish Hinojosa Papers, 1979-2007

Biographical Note

Singer-songwriter Leticia "Tish" Hinojosa was born December 6, 1955 in San Antonio, Texas to Mexican immigrant parents. She is the youngest of thirteen siblings. Professing a longstanding interest in music, Hinojosa began writing songs and performing at an early age. She released 15 albums between 1987 and 2005 that mix languages (Spanish and English) as well as a variety of musical genres such as folk music, country-western, and traditional Mexican music. Hinojosa's interest in cultural diversity emerges as a recurrent theme in both her work and her personal life, and is expressed not only through her award-winning cross-cultural musical productions but also in her volunteer work with several humanitarian organizations.

After leaving Texas in 1979, Hinojosa moved to Taos, New Mexico where she worked as a backup singer before moving to Nashville in 1983 and returning to Taos in 1985. She eventually settled in Austin, Texas in 1988, and currently divides her time between Austin and Hamburg, Germany.

Upon returning to Taos in 1985, Hinojosa recorded her self-released cassette Taos to Tennessee, later re-released in 1992 and again in 2001. 1988 brought not only a move to Austin, but also the release of her first major label album, Homeland with A&M. Culture Swing followed in 1992 through Rounder Records and was named the Folk Album of the Year by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors. Watermelon, the now bankrupt independent record label out of Austin, TX, issued three previously recorded albums in 1992, including a live album and a holiday album. Hinojosa was signed by the Warner Bros. label in 1994 and released Destiny's Gate the same year, although she continued to record more diverse projects through Rounder Records. These other projects include the album Frontejas, which spotlights Texas/Mexico border music, and Cada Nino, a bilingual children's album.

In addition to an active recording and live performance schedule, Hinojosa also appeared in multiple televised and radio broadcasts, including the ABC TV special of the Alma Awards in which she was an honoree. She also made three separate appearances on Austin City Limits, gave an interview on Good Morning America, and appeared on Onyx TV Germany, WDR TV Germany, SWR TV Switzerland, and VPRO TV Netherlands.

After leaving Warner Bros in the mid-1990's, Hinojosa took a four year hiatus from recording and focused on her social interests, including work with bilingual education, immigration, and migrant farm workers' rights. She served as spokesperson for both the National Latino Children's Agenda and the National Association of Bilingual Education and was active with the United Farmworkers of America. During this period, she also performed by invitation at the White House for President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

Hinojosa was married twice. Her first marriage was to attorney Craig Barker in 1982. Barker managed her career and played bass with her band from 1981 to 1997. The couple have two children together and divorced after nearly 20 years of marriage, just before Hinojosa recorded and released Sign of Truth in 2000. In 2007 she married German musician/producer Andreas Sedlmair.

Scope and Contents Note

The materials in this collection date from 1979-2007, though the bulk was created between 1989 and 1999. The collection is primarily comprised of materials related to Tish Hinojosa's prolific career as a performing artist. These materials highlight Hinojosa's success as a singer and songwriter as exemplified in reviews and accolades by music critics, fans, and peers. There are also studio and commercially produced audio recordings and audiovisual recordings of performances and interviews. The materials additionally represent Hinojosa's philanthropic and community-service based work, and are represented by the actual awards and plaques presented to her on behalf of humanitarian groups such as the National Latino Children's Agenda, the National Association of Bilingual Education, and the United Farmworkers of America.

The paper records from the collection are predominantly clippings, newspapers, magazines, correspondence, and notes relating to Hinojosa's musical career. These records document Hinojosa's performance itinerary, album production, and communication with both producers and consumers of her work. There is also a substantial collection of audio and audiovisual materials documenting her recorded works, performances, interviews, and personal musical interests. In addition, the collection includes a small but significant amount of ephemeral material comprised of awards, personal items, and gifts from fans and family members. Also included are a small collection of photographs; these are mostly promotional or candid shots from Hinojosa's live performances.

The collection is arranged into eight series: Press and Publications, Correspondence, Materials Related to Production, Promotional Materials, Ephemeral Materials, Photographic Materials, Oversized Materials, and Audiovisual Materials.

Series one,    Press and Publications, includes all printed materials relating to Hinojosa?s musical performances, album reviews, and other career related press. The latter includes newspapers and magazines, press related scrapbooks, and loose clippings. There are books mentioning the artist?s musical career and books authored by Hinojosa, including a children?s short story. This series is arranged by genre into three sub-series: Books, Clippings and Related Materials, and Scrapbooks. Within each subseries, files are arranged either alphabetically or chronologically. Of particular interest is a bilingual children?s book written by Hinojosa and related to her bilingual children?s album Cada Nino.

Series two,    Correspondence, contains material created by Hinojosa, her manager Craig Barker, her various record labels (especially those from Rounder Records), her fans, and the various musicians and other individuals regarding her music. Files are arranged alphabetically by subject, then by date. Subjects include fan mail, production related mail, and various (consisting of materials created by Hinojosa and mail sent to her). Items of interest include a card from Vice President Al Gore, 2005, and a letter from musician Trisha Yearwood, 1999.

Series three,    Materials Related to Production, includes materials that are related to album production, such as production items from record labels, soundscans, production correspondence, forecasting documents, budgets, and album artwork. The series also provides ample information relating to the production of her acclaimed 1993 Rounder Records release, Culture Swing, and contains handwritten lyrics sheets, song arrangements and music video production items. In addition to album materials, the series holds items relating to sales and statistical information relating to Hinojosa?s album production and releases. Files are arranged alphabetically.

Series four,    Promotional Materials, contains items created or distributed for the purpose of advancing or advertising Hinojosa?s musical productions, performances, or career. The materials span press releases compiled by Hinojosa, both the record labels, and her management firm, as well as head shots, post-cards, broadsides, handbills, programs, and various other related materials. Files are ordered alphabetically.

Series five,    Ephemeral Materials, contains four boxes numbered 13 through 16. Items in box 13 include: a t-shirt signed by Hinojosa, a pair of glasses, a leather guitar strap tooled with the artist?s name, festival and backstage badges, a ceramic plate from Garrison Keillor, etc. Box 14 includes flat paper awards and certificates. Box 15 includes flat or framed plaques and awards and box 16 includes 3-dimensional awards. Additional examples of items in this series are a platinum record for her album Homeland, a certificate of achievement for support of migrant farmworkers, and a declaration by the state of Utah for ?Border Tour Day,? which celebrated Hinojosa?s ?Border Tour? and her various accomplishments and contributions to the state. In addition to the paper awards, Box 14 also includes an array of fan art, most of which are drawings of Hinojosa by elementary school-aged fans.

Series six,    Photographic Materials, consists of both staged and candid image materials, primarily of Hinojosa alone or with her backup musicians. There is variation to the sizes and finish of the photographs, including 4x6in., 5x7in., and 8x10in. in matte, glossy, and paper print-out. The bulk of the images are promotional shots, primarily undertaken through the Rounder Records publicity department. There are also a number of photographs from friends sent to Hinojosa of performances and a few that are more personal in nature. Formats include photo-cds, slides, contact and proof sheets, and negatives placed in plastic sleeves. Known photographers include: Phillip Manti, Steve Stone, and Todd Wolfson. Of note in this series is a promotional photograph signed by Hinojosa.

Series seven,    Oversized Materials, includes all materials that are too large or of unusual shape which prevent them from being held with other series. Examples of materials from this series include concert and festival posters and a substantial amount of fan mail produced by schoolchildren. Materials are arranged alphabetically at the item level.

Series eight,    Audiovisual Materials, includes studio master audio recordings and outtakes as well as Hinojosa's commercially produced recordings and those of fellow musicians performing her material or audio recordings she collected. Additionally, this series includes video materials documenting Hinojosa's live performances, staged performances, and interviews. The items in this series are arranged by format into 2 sub-series: Audiovisual and Audio. The Audiovisual sub-series encompasses 1-inch open video reels, Umatic video, and VHS video. The Audio sub-series contains 2-inch open reel audio, _ inch reel-to-reel audio, DAT tapes, mini-discs, standard audio cassette tapes, phonodisc recordings (including 45 rpm discs and 33 rpm discs), and standard audio compact discs (CDs). Access to AV materials is dependent upon the availability of appropriate playback equipment and consideration of the fragile nature of these materials.

Separation Note: Commercially produced materials may be removed from the collection and cataloged. If so, they may be found by searching the Library Catalog. Items to possibly be separated are marked with an asterisk.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Unrestricted.

Use Restrictions

Standard copyright restrictions apply.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Tish Hinojosa Papers, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin.

Box and Folder Inventory