TISH HINOJOSA

er rich, warm soprano has never sounded so direct and universal, as Hinojosa ponders the major changes in her life the past few years, and reflects her heritage in subtle new ways.

ur sets are always a little unpredictable," says Tish of her live performances. "We never just put it on automatic pilot and go ... if we're playing a real Hispanic event it'll be different, or maybe if we're representing Texas, or if it's a real folk event or we are playing with a symphony. I want to see what will work for a particular audience, what will play in that neighborhood," she says with a smile.

he has many influences to draw on. Hinojosa's journey in music began in San Antonio as the daughter of immigrant parents, listening to Mexican music on her mother's kitchen radio. "I was always fascinated by that as a child," she recalls, "although I sure didn't know it would lead me to where I am now!" In high school she was drawn to folk mass celebrations and learned guitar. "Those girls who sang at the folk mass, they were the first ones who ever really told me I had a voice, that I could sing," she says.

n her twenties she left San Antonio and moved to northern New Mexico. "I went up there as a folksinger," she says, "sitting in the corner of the bar and playing songs. Pretty soon I saw I was going to have to do more than that to support myself, and I had met some musicians up there, so we formed a band to play country music, which I had never really sung before. I fell in love with music by Linda Ronstadt, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris — what I was calling country music at the time. I also started listening to some of the mountain music, real heartfelt stuff like Hazel Dickens and Patsy Cline." This gave Hinojosa the insight to begin songwriting. "My career up until then had been singing other people's music," she says, "but I realized I had this whole bag of experiences and influences, going back to that Mexican kitchen radio, that I had never heard expressed in song." She also had a way to try them out. "I'd hide them in dance sets," she recalls, "put a two step beat on them, and figure the dancers wouldn't notice that much." Soon, though, she was ready for a wider challenge. She and her husband, Craig Barker, began booking themselves into the college circuit, "making it the real main thrust of doing my own music. Kinda reluctantly at first, it was scary, but I got confidence as I saw I could play and write and sing at least as well as the other people who were doing those clubs. Then, we thought the next step would be in country music."

aining in popularity, she subsequently recorded three releases on Watermelon records, followed by three CDs on Rounder and Warner. Since separated from her husband and Warner, her latest CD Sign of Truth was co-produced with her longtime guitar partner Marvin Dykhuis ... "A lot of what happened in the past few years has been a total turning over of my world," Hinojosa says, and it's shown in her writing for the reflective CD, which closes with "If we don't count our blessings, we're wasting our time"

• "There is a distinct grain in Hinojosa's tone instead of startling precision, and this made her music all the better ... a pristine voice is - was the least of what she has to offer. She has her songs, and her heart - and that combination will be plenty good enough for a long time to come. "
  
  Jeff Guinn - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
  
  
• "... the thematic substance and graceful flow of her music - an act of great purity made possible by her rare purity of voice. Here is as artist- singing in English and Spanish - who trusts that her songs are meaningful and graceful, that her voice is lovely and that nothing more is needed to reach her audience. "
  
  Mike Boehm - Los Angeles Times
  
  
• "Your music is so real and speaks the truth. I was wanting to jump up and dance, but there was no dance floor. "
  
  Matt McClarin
  
  

Listen to song clips: