Christina Ortega

It all started with a bottle of tequila. One day Christina and her bluegrass pals were sitting around arguing about who would eat the worm. Picking up their instruments, they soon realized they were onto something new. Tom "Chuy" Corbett's guitar, Otono Lujan's button accordion, and Ruben Ramos' bass found the perfect balance of joy and melancholy that defines the best in ranchera and cowboy music. Christina uncorked the feeling in her heart and let the passion of two languages spill out into the world. Let's put it this way - if Gene Autry had been born on a ranch in Mexico (and if he had been a girl), this is what it might have sounded like. The band sizzles and snaps as melancholy corridos crackle with a newly found vitality and energy, creating a sonic stew that bridges the historical and musical gap between the American cowboy and the Mexican vaquero.Not long ago, Christina was an aspiring opera singer but a move to Colorado soon put her on the path toward alternative forms of acoustic music. It was while living at the foot of the Rockies that she fell in love with the many spirited forms of roots music. From Cajun to Celtic to eventually fronting her own band, she discovered a passion for bluegrass prison songs and similarly tragic hillbilly themes (not surprising when you consider her operatic background). Apparently Colorado music lovers have a thing for a finely rendered tuneful tale of woe when they voted for her to receive a Rocky Mountain Region Female Bluegrass Vocalist of the Year award.A western girl at heart and by heritage, she found her way to the world of cowboy poetry and eventually turned her attention to the lamentations of traditional Mexican folk songs juxtaposed with American cowboy music. Now living in her native Southern California, Christina and her band of merry men have appeared at prestigious venues such as the Autry National Center and as guest artists on the nationally syndicated program "FolkScene". In February 2007, Christina starred in "The Electronic Campfire", a live concert event in Austin produced by Texas Folklife and funded partially by the National Endowment for the Arts. The performance will air on National Public Radio later this year. Not bad for a girl who once thought she was headed for a career in opera.

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