Music, particularly live music, has the power to reach us no matter our age.  A great evening out or a memorable party can be enhanced by live music.  It might be a black-clad classical guitar virtuoso playing “Malaguena,” a duo singing ballads for a supper crowd, or a rock band moving feet that bopped to the same music 50 years ago.  Prized for soothing the savage beast, live music can also tempt others to rock the night away or come a little bit closer.  Despite a tsunami of deejay-led music in clubs, live music and the businesses that teach musicians and cater to and employ them are alive and well in the Valley.

Rock and soul  

Three musicians in the five-man classic rock and soul band The Agency own small businesses: Dune Tunes, The Ad Factory and Tequila Group.   After playing together for 20 years at galas, reunions and events like the Port Isabel Shrimp Cook-Off, the rock and roll veterans have tapped into a new market for their five-part harmony renditions of “Mustang Sally,” “Proud Mary,” “Pretty Woman,” “Soul Man” and “Desperado.”

“About three years ago, I get a call from a Winter Texan park. I told them we didn’t do country. They said, ‘We’re baby boomers.  We want rock and roll.’  Winter Texans have become our demographic,” said Alan Hollander, The Agency’s bass player and backup singer. “Rock musicians are getting older. We’re playing the music we all grew up with to our peers at RV parks.”

This past season, The Agency was fully booked, selling out for crowds of 250-500 Winter Texans.  “We’re booked solid for next season, and we already have about 12 gigs for 2015/2016,” Hollander said.

The Agency’s preference for one-night stands is starting to tell, observed Hollander, who has been playing rock and roll since his teenage years in New York City.  “We have a lot of heavy equipment, and we’re not getting any younger. You have to stay in shape. Even if you’re sick, when you have a contract, you have to show up.”

With businesses to run or full-time jobs, the band members have committed to learning a dozen new songs over the summer.  “That takes a lot of work. We’re all perfectionists and we like to sound very tight and very accurate, whether it’s Motown or Chicago.”

Hollander said the band tries to shop locally for band supplies. “I personally go to Hermes Music a lot because those guys have always been very nice to me and bend over backwards to help. When you’re dealing with musicians, no matter what kind of music you play, it’s a brotherhood.  Everyone has music in common.”

The largest music store 

Behind the Melhart Music Center showroom, brilliant with the gleaming woods of pianos and cellos, a small sign recognizes the independent store as one of top 200 music product retailers in the nation. Since 1970 the full service company owned by Jim and Betty Melhart has sold and serviced band and orchestra instruments from slinky saxophones, shiny drum sets and keyboards to acoustic guitars and violins.  The North Tenth store has 20 sound-proofed practice studios upstairs where students of all ages take private lessons and a downstairs auditorium for recitals.

“The nice thing about music is it knows no age barriers,” said Betty.  Music is multi-generational as well. Art Baca, Melhart’s percussion manager, said he is seeing a third generation of music aficionados coming into the store.

“We’re one of largest independent music stores in the United States,” Baca added. “We sell to bands and schools all over the country.  Jim and Betty have managed to find ways to make it prosper.”

 “The key is we do everything from instruments and PA systems to rentals and manufacturing,” Melhart said. “There’s nothing that’s too small or too big. There’s the mentality that you have to go out of the Valley to buy good stuff, although it’s here right in your back yard.”

Melhart designs and builds lockers and podiums for band halls. It sets up light, sound and screens for major concerts and rents stages. It has separate sales and repair departments for guitars, strings, band instruments and amps/electronics. It has rental purchase plans for beginning band students that allow parents to apply the rental fees to purchase, or, if the child does not stick with the instrument, to return it without penalty.

“We don’t just sit here and wait for customers to walk in. You give them reasons to come back,” Baca said. He noted the Valley probably has more live bands than ever, but also has fewer places for them to play because of the popularity of deejays.

Country music and tejano music are the biggest draws. Yet mariachi music is growing in popularity in Valley schools.  Melhart has a separate room filled with bajo sextos, guitarrons and vihuelas.

High school mariachi programs have been introducing students to the music of their parents and grandparents, said Jesus R. Vela, production director and founder of Mariachi los Gavilanes de Jesus Vela.  The group, which was founded 22 years ago, keeps welcoming new waves of young people who have discovered a cultural tradition of their heritage.  “When other kids are into pop and rap, they are getting the flavor of mariachi.”

Mariachi los Gavilanes has the most demands for performances during the Christmas season, but year-round requests come in for the group to play at private parties and public events.

In Mexico, mariachi serenades are an essential part of Mother’s Day.  That tradition is not fading away in the Valley, Vela said, given the availability of a live performance by groups like his.

Music to dine by 

Along with nightclubs, live music performances rock popular restaurants.  The Centennial,  Patio on Guerra, Santa Fe Steakhouse and Peppers are among the McAllen venues known for music. In the lower Valley, diners can tune in at Cobbleheads and Camperos, which feature mariachis on weekends.  At Colletti’s, live music every Friday night on the patio helps people relax into the weekend, according to Jessica Mason, manager of the Harlingen restaurant. “Some nights it’s country, or the rock band the Lone Rangers, or singer Madelyn Vallejo.  We have a little bit of everything  … blues, jazz and once an opera singer.  It’s an amenity people appreciate.”

If you hear a jazzy keyboard playing classics at your next corporate dinner or uptown party, you might be hearing David Mesquitic.  The UTPA music major plays his combination of jazz, soul, Latin and blues fusion about three weekends per month.  “I prefer jazz, but it’s not in great demand here,” he said.

The number of musicians in the Valley is certainly not shrinking.  Retired people decide to finally learn how to play the organ and teens commit to learning how to play drums. In-person lessons combined with online practice sessions ease the journey into mastering an instrument.  Live music in the air, no matter the genre, raises the energy and enjoyment levels at every gathering.

For more information, see Agencyrocks.com; Melhart.com; Valleykeyboards.com or call Mariachi Los Gavilanes at 687-8789 and David Mesquitic at 605-3690.

May 2014 cover story by Eileen Mattei