New Year's Eve with Little Joe y La Familia with 80H Project

Little Joe Y La Familia

Little Joe & La Familia is one of the most popular Tex-Mex bands. Described  as the "King of the Brown Sound," he has helped pioneer "Tejano" music, a mix  of traditional Norteno, country, blues and rock styles. In his earlier years,  Little Joe found influences in the music of Beta Villa, the originator of orquesta  Tejana that generally features trumpets and saxophones. As a recipient of the  Texas NARAS Governors Award and Texas State Artist of the Year, he  continues to entertain audiences around the world for over 65 years with 70  albums and countless shows. Through his music which features the struggle  of the less fortunate, he supports the United Farm Workers, Farm Aid, and 

Diabetes Educational Campaign Project. His song "Las Nubes" was adopted by  the United Farm Workers as their official marching song. 

Little Joe, Jose Maria DeLeon Hernandez, was born in a one room dirt floor  shack in Temple, Texas in October, 1940. While working as a young migrant  cotton field worker, Joe’s cousin, David Coronado, of the band “David  Coronado & The Latinaires”, recruited Joe on guitar. Joe realized that picking a  guitar beat picking cotton. Soon after joining the band, his first recording  came in 1958 on their instrumental single “Safari Part I & II.”  

Jesse, Joe’s brother, joined the band in 1959 as David Coronado was leaving. Joe took over the band, renaming it “Little Joe & The Latinaires”. Sadly, Jesse  died in an auto accident in 1964. Joe made a vow to Jesse to carry their music  forward not realizing how far his music would take him, how it would open  many doors for other artists and set many new musical trends. 

After playing and spending much of his time in the San Francisco area in the  1970’s, Joe discovered “Latinismo”, a strong Latin musical world which was not  found in Texas at that time. It had a profound change in his music and  cultural values prompting him to change the name of the band from Latinaires  to La Familia, emphasizing Joe’s need for knowledge and reflection of his roots. 

11 time Grammy nominated, Little Joe has received 5 Grammys, 1991 for Best  Mexican-American album, "Diez y Seis de Septiembre", 2005 for Best Tejano  album, “Chicanisimo”, 2007 for Best Tejano album, “Before The Next Teardrop  Falls”, 2010 Best Tejano album and a Latin Grammy in 2011 for the album  “Recuerdos”. 

Along with his contributions in music, Joe’s last endeavor, his biographical book has won 5 major awards in The International Latino Book Awards,  considered the largest Latino cultural awards in the United States. 

Most recently, Little Joe has become the recipient of the 2023 National  Endowment of the Arts National Heritage Fellowship award. His heart felt  response to such a great honor was, “I feel I have reached the pinnacle of my  musical career and I couldn’t have asked for a better punctuation to this long  journey of a blessed life.”

80H Project

"A smoothly vocal heavy positive groove based crew with an amazing feel."

80Hproject came together in the fertile music hotbed of their native Austin, TX.

The band since expanded  their presence to the Nashville, TN music scene and is fast making their mark. The 80HProject are continually ramping up their original, uncompromisingly soulful sound and are breaking through as "just below the radar" sensation.

Ady Hernandez, band leader has the tenacity of a new coming artist combined with the history of a seasoned vet.

Ady's live performances has been described as, he "Plays guitar like Carlos Santana and sings like Stevie Wonder"