Welcome to another Christmas special of «El Noticiero Alvarez-Galloso» [The Alvarez-Galloso News Hour]. We have as an invited guest the Queen of Latin Folk Music for the 21st Century. Her name is Gina Chavez.

Gina Chavez recently returned from a concert in Japan where she was given a great reception. Gina Chavez has a new album called «Hanging Spoons».  The interview was conducted via E Mail between Florida and Texas.

We will continue with the rest of the interview.

How did you get started in the music business?

I’ve always loved to sing. I was fortunate to have great choir teachers in middle school and high school who taught me how to sing life into notes on a page. But it was when I saw Toni Price with Casper Rawls and Scrappy Judd at the Continental Club when I was 18 that I pulled my dad’s 1954 Martin guitar out of the closet and began writing songs. Since then, God has placed incredible people and opportunities in my path and gently but firmly shoved me into recording albums and pursuing music as a career.

 

Who were you your musical idols and what did you learn from them (or their music) to form a style that is Gina Chavez?

I’m not really sure I have idols, but I remember nearly wearing out three cassettes as a child (yes, cassettes!): Lyle Lovett’s Pontiac, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and The Essential Little Richard. Later, Patty Griffin and Ani Difranco gave heart and fight to my songwriting, while the rhythmic poetry of Mercedes Sosa, Silvio Rodriguez and Jorge Drexler now bridge my passion for song to my longing for a connection to my Latin roots.

 

If The Texas Rangers win the World Series, will you do a special concert in honor of them?

Oh, how I wish they’d thrown a strike and won Game 6! Don’t remind me…

But yes, of course, WHEN they win, I will most definitely raise my voice in their honor. 

 

Your latest release «Hanging Spoons» has been a success in the USA and parts of the world. What do you attribute the success of «Hanging Spoons»?

Hanging Spoons was a blast to work on! The producer, Stephen Miller, and I spent 10 months recording and loved every second of it. It’s a simple album from a young songwriter and remains a collection of songs that I am proud of and can still listen to and enjoy. I’ve heard it’s a great album to cook to, hehe, but I guess you’ll have to take a listen and tell me what you think.

 

How long did it take you to record the album «Hanging Spoons»?

10 months and lots of do-overs, haha.

 

What was the concept behind «Hanging Spoons»?

Essentially, it’s a collection of the most meaningful songs I’d written as a young songwriter. I spent another month of two trying to name the album since I’m not a big fan of self-titled first albums. Hanging Spoons came to me after reading that KT Tunstall titled her debut album Eye to the Telescope after a beloved pasttime she shared with her father. Since my family has always been my most amazing support, I named the album Hanging Spoons to honor one of our favorite pasttimes, namely seeing how many spoons one can hang on one’s face.

 

You participated in Austin 4 El Salvador. What is Austin 4 El Salvador?

In 2009, I left Central Texas for Central America where I lived with nuns and taught English to 300 girls in Soyapango, a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador for 8 months. Upon return, my mission partner and I decided to start a college scholarship fund for four of the senior girls that we’d lived with and come to love as sisters. With the help of amazing Austinites, two of the girls, Marta and Xiomara, are finishing up the second semester of their freshman year at Don Bosco University, a private Catholic college in their neighborhood. A donation of $10 or more gives our girls an otherwise unaffordable education, a priceless opportunity to positively change their world. To learn more, visit www.crowdrise.com/austin4elsalvador

 

What is your advice to those who seek a musical career?

Keep singing and playing and writing. Always! The career requires that you learn business, but keep your heart in the art of it and know that you have a song that no one else can sing but you.

 

 Do you have any message for the world?

How bout a question? …Does knowing the right answer help you to love more or cause you to love less? 

Thank You Gina for taking the time to be interviewed by «El Noticiero Alvarez-Galloso». I would like to wish you the best in your career and newest album «Hanging Spoons»

I want to invite the readers of «El Noticiero Alvarez-Galloso» to add Gina Chavez and her latest album «Hanging Spoon» to your Christmas Wish List. Gina Chavez and her music are out of this world.

http://www.ginachavez.com/