SAN ANTONIO — Josh Baca honors his musical brothers with his accordion and through his group “Josh Baca & the Hot Tamales.”
In between his set at the Westside San Antonio bar Jaime’s Place, he proposed a toast to two Grammy-winning giants who passed away in the last seven months.
“Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez, pa arriba, pa abajo, pa’l centro y pa dentro,” Baca said before drinking his shot.
Baca shared the stage with Jimenez and Meyers. They were his friends and mentors.
“I learned the Augie Meyers rhythm on the Vox organ. Everybody in this life don’t understand it,” Baca said, holding his Horner accordion. “Everybody thinks he was just going ‘cha-cha-cha-cha.’”
Baca is talking about the unique sound from Meyers’ Vox Continental organ. Meyers, alongside Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quintet, always brought Tex-Mex flair. Whether they were playing rock, blues or zydeco or on major stages like American Bandstand, Meyers stayed true to his San Antonio roots.
“Cause Augie and Doug were Eastsiders, Southeast-siders, still Southside,” Joe Treviño said of the two San Antonio musicians, who grew up in predominately Black and brown neighborhoods. “They are like Southside white boys.”
Treviño, who owns Blue Cat Studios, produced Meyers’ last album and says the late artist understood the culture because he grew up with conjunto, German and rock music.
“They created this caldo, this roux. It spawned a legion of imitators, but they got it right,” Treviño said.
He says that’s why Sahm and Meyers paired perfectly with Jimenez and Freddy Fender to form the Tex-Mex supergroup Texas Tornados, with whom Meyers captured his first Grammy award.
Meyers wrote a song known as the San Antonio national anthem: “Hey Baby, Que Paso?”
Meyers also had a major role in making Bob Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind” album, which won a Grammy award for Album of the Year in 1998. Dylan mentioned Meyers during his Grammy speech.
Despite massive success, Baca says Meyers always paid it forward to the next generation.
“What I learned from Flaco Jimenez and Augie Meyers is be who you are, don’t fake it,” Baca said.
Tex-Mex rock artist Garrett T. Capps was another friend of Meyers, who learned a lot from the late musician. Capps’ recently released album, “I Still Love San Antone,” has two Augie Meyers features.
“I try to kind of carry the flag for progressive country music from South Texas… Tex-Mex music or whatever is, there is not right or wrong way to do it,” Capps said.
Capps and Baca are keeping the Meyers sound alive in their own unique way.
“Just thinking about Augie, his music will live on forever, that’s for sure,” Capps said.