Sammy Torres & The New Image<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI didn\u2019t expect for myself or my band to do so well within the first year\u2026 to be the first female-led, multi-award-nominated Tejano band out of Lubbock, Texas,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThat right there has been such a cool honor to just have.\u201d<\/p>\n
A classic sound with their own signature<\/p>\n
Torres says the band is intentional about staying true to Tejano\u2019s classic feel while adding just enough progression to make it identifiable as their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to make sure that whatever sound we put out was ours\u2026 unique,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThat classic nostalgic Tejano sound that people are used to, along with a little bit of progression and a little bit of modernization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local support turning into regional opportunities<\/p>\n
Torres credits Lubbock\u2019s support for helping the band grow, and for opening doors to performances outside the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cLubbock kind of chose us to represent them,\u201d Torres said. \u201cAnd we are taking the sound to other parts\u2026 of Texas and New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band is also set to headline its first out-of-state show at Eastern New Mexico University, Torres said.<\/p>\n
\u2018That\u2019s the adrenaline\u2019: Connecting with the crowd<\/p>\n
For band members, the reward comes from seeing audiences respond in real time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see the people dancing\u2026 that right there is more than any payoff that you can ever get,\u201d said Damian Payen, the band\u2019s lead keyboard and accordion player. \u201cThat\u2019s the adrenaline of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We can stay home\u2019: a message for West Texas musicians<\/p>\n
Torres says she hopes the band\u2019s rise challenges the idea that artists have to leave West Texas to make it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of us feel like we need to move to Austin or Dallas or San Antonio to make it,\u201d Torres said. \u201cAnd I just want to change that thought process\u2026 we can do it, but we can stay home\u2026 close to our roots and make our people proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next<\/p>\n
The band recently won Best Tejano Group of the Year at the All Star Music Awards.<\/p>\n
Their first sponsored single, \u201cDame Tu Calor,\u201d is scheduled to be released July 17.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock\u2019s music scene has a long history of making waves, and one rising Tejano…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-344278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}