Mando Saenz

Mando Saenz entered the world in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, yet spent his childhood in Corpus Christi, Texas. Music-loving parents nurtured his interest in performance, surrounding him with sounds that spanned introspective singer/songwriters, the Everly Brothers, and traditional Mexican repertoire. Although he studied guitar during his pre-teen years, he treated the instrument strictly as a pastime rather than a vocation. Enrollment at Texas Tech University gradually broadened his outlook, prompting him to consider singing and playing as a viable path. Once he began graduate studies in San Antonio, he committed himself fully to that ambition. Relocating to Houston allowed him to test material at local open-mic venues and to lay down early recordings alongside his brother Marcos. His first album, Watertown, appeared in 2002 on the Houston label Plethorazine; John Egan served as producer, and the release gave Saenz the opportunity to perform wherever bookings could be secured. The decisive opportunity arrived through Frank Liddell, co-founder of Carnival Music, who obtained a copy of the album from his daughter and arranged for its reissue on the Carnival imprint in 2005. Saenz supported the re-release with further touring while planning a follow-up project for later that year. Observers have frequently drawn parallels between his work and that of singer/songwriters such as Ron Sexsmith and Rufus Wainwright.