“Los Texmaniacs breathe new life into conjunto music.”

— Daniel Sheehy, Smithsonian Folkways

New boots, old roots: this is true Americana music, born and raised in this country.

Grammy winners with deep Tejano roots, Los Texmaniacs take the conjunto sound of the Texas-Mexico border and turn it loose with blues, rock, country, and jazz. The result works as well under the stars at an outdoor festival as it does on the stage of a performing arts center.

Bajo sexto master Max Baca cut his teeth with the hit-making crossover band the Texas Tornados before founding Los Texmaniacs in 1997. He built a solid lineup around the classic conjunto core. The ringing twelve-string bajo sexto and the button accordion lead the way, while a driving bass and drums keep the floor moving. Together they play the deep repertoire of old-time polkas, redovas, chotises (schottisches), waltzes, and huapangos, and they push it into fresh, high-energy territory.

Los Texmaniacs won a Grammy for their Smithsonian Folkways debut, Borders y Bailes. They earned Latin Grammy and Grammy nominations for Texas Towns & Tex-Mex Sounds and for Cruzando Borders, an album that asserts pride in both Mexican culture and U.S. nationhood. Their 2023 Folkways album with La Marisoul, Corazones and Canciones, declares that Mexican-American music is American music. In 2026, the band shared in a second Grammy win on A Tribute to the King of Zydeco.

A longtime featured act with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, Los Texmaniacs have played the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Kennedy Center. They have carried conjunto from Monterrey to Bangladesh and pack dance floors from Houston’s Chicano Fest to Arlington’s Levitt Pavilion.

Now the band is charting a new path with “Déjalo,” the first single from Nuevo Crossroads, their double album with Worldhaus Music due in spring 2027. They debuted it in their 2026 NPR Tiny Desk concert, where NPR praised music made for twirling across the dance floor.

Los Texmaniacs fit any stage. They can scale down to an acoustic trio or quartet for an intimate house concert, lead an educational program on conjunto history, or bring the full band to a performing arts center, outdoor festival, or street dance. Wherever they play, audiences leave dancing and knowing a little more about the borderland music behind the beat.