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Austin musicians honored in Trail of Tejano Legends
Saturday morning on the Lady Bird Lake trail in East Austin was gloomy for some — but not for Ruben and Dora Hernandez, who got to celebrate the ribbon-cutting for a sculpture honoring their father.
The ceremony was part of a daylong inauguration of the Trail of Tejano Legends, which started at the Mexican American Cultural Center.
Nash Hernandez, Ruben’s and Dora’s father, was a trumpeter known to his friends as “Mr. Nash” who led Austin’s longest-running big band, formed in 1949. Before he died in 1994, Nash Hernandez received honors from former Vice President Al Gore and former Gov. Dolph Briscoe. But the humble musician who liked to whistle wasn’t honored properly until Saturday, his son Ruben Hernandez, 50, said.
“Now, Stevie Ray Vaughan is representing one era of music on the west side of the lake,” said Hernandez, who now leads his father’s orchestra. “My father is representing another era on the east side.”
The trail, a little longer than five miles, has been in the works for several years, said Delia Perez, 51, whose family was also honored with a sculpture on the trail. The trail includes a pavilion named for conjunto accordionist and band leader Johnny Degollado and a park named for Tejano music pioneer Manuel Donley and his brother, Robert.
Lori Renteria, an East Austin activist, said the trail was paid for with money from the Holly Good Neighbor Program. That program was established by Austin Energy to soften the effects of the now-decommissioned Holly Power Plant on the community around it.
Renteria would not say how much it cost to create the trail.
Sculptor Connie Arismendi created three cut-metal sculptures of six Tejano legends from local families. They include a Roy Montelongo scenic overlook near Metz Park and the Nash Hernandez piece in Fiesta Gardens. Outside the cultural center there is an Arismendi sculpture of the Perez and Ramos families, who are connected by brothers Louis Perez and Tranquilino Perez.
Former City Council Member Raul Alvarez, the Austin Latino Music Association and the Parks and Recreation Department partnered to create the trail, a City Council-led initiative. The trail honors the achievements of local families who were influential in Austin’s musical legacy. Alvarez said that “it’s extra special that geographically, there’s a link between the trail and where (the musicians and their families) grew up.”
Hundreds gathered to hear Degollado and Donley perform at the cultural center. City Council Member Mike Martinez and state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez were among those in attendance. “Tejano music was being ignored for a little while there,” Rodriguez said. “It’s good to see it being represented now in the so-called live music capital.”
“Tenderly,” the sculpture of Nash Hernandez, is surrounded by lyrics to a song of the same name that he used to play at the end of each performance. It was dedicated to his wife of 50 years, Minnie. “The artist did a wonderful job,” Dora Hernandez, 60, said. “It almost makes me feel like she gave me dad back, in a way.”
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