The origins of the Longoria family dynasty within Tex-Mex music trace back to the 1920s inside a Mississippi cotton field, where the sizable household of Valerio Longoria Sr. remained unaware that a future master musician was coming of age among them. His early years unfolded in the modest communities of Ramondsville and Kenedy, TX, where he was sent into the fields as a youngster, enduring grueling labor that ranged from Arkansas cotton rows to Texas orange groves. Guitar and harmonica came first, followed by the accordion when he reached seven. Although the early-Tejano approach of Narciso Martinez left a deep mark, Longoria grew into the inaugural figure of the nueva generación, the cohort that shaped the classic era of Tex-Mex conjunto.
He began performing while still young and maintained a music career spanning more than six decades. His debut recordings occurred at twenty-one. During the second World War he maintained his skills by borrowing accordions in German; afterward he relocated to San Antonio, where a thriving scene welcomed him and he began cutting sides for Corona in 1947. More than two hundred tracks eventually appeared across numerous labels, yet the sessions he completed for Ideal showcased his most inventive contributions to conjunto. One key shift he introduced was postural: accordionists largely adopted standing onstage because of Longoria. He was likewise the first to sing while playing the instrument and the first to add modern dance trap drums to the traditional ensemble. Replacing a lone snare with a full drum kit and folding in bass guitar supplied, in his view, the essential ingredient that completed the conjunto sound. He further broadened the repertoire by incorporating forms such as the romantic Cuban-Mexican bolero, lending the music a more sophisticated, “jaitón” character that elevated the once lower-class style from its cantina origins into greater respectability.
Longoria’s self-taught knack for repairing his own instrument afforded him an extraordinary command of distinctive timbres, earning him comparison to the Les Paul of the accordion. By adjusting reeds to produce vibration he generated an entirely fresh sonority; he permanently altered the button accordion’s voice simply by tuning one reed an octave lower. As a singer he brought the canción ranchera into widespread favor through his smooth delivery, beginning with the 1947 recording “El Rosalito,” which became a staple of the conjunto canon and ranks among the most frequently recorded pieces in the genre’s history.
In 1982 he entered the Tejano Conjunto Hall of Fame; four years later he received the National Heritage Fellowship Award. A 1988 collaboration with Freddy Fender yielded the hit “Amor Chiquito.” For more than nineteen years he served as master accordion instructor at San Antonio’s Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, guiding hundreds of students. He also appeared in the 1997 film Selena. Valerio Longoria Jr. has performed with his father’s groups and has established his own career as a musician.
