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The Sounds Of America: ‘Partners’

Flaco Jimenez and Ry Cooder perform onstage at the 13th annual Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Flaco Jimenez and Ry Cooder perform onstage at the 13th annual Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez is a singer, songwriter and button accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. He descends from a long line of musicians who pioneered conjunto music.

Though he was brought up with the traditional approaches to conjunto, throughout his career, Jiménez expanded the genre through his collaborations with a variety of musical forms, bringing conjunto to new audiences worldwide.

In 1992, he released Partners. The album’s title references the many guest artists featured on the record, including Stephen Stills, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder, and Linda Ronstadt. Partners was inducted into the National Recording Registry this year.

We talk with Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt and Jiménez himself about how the album was made for this edition of The Sounds Of America.

The Sounds Of America is produced by BMP Audio.

Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5

Rupert Allman

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