Today, Mariachi El Bronx has shared their single, “Songbird,” which is track that confronts a creative hurdle many artists face: writer’s block. Frontman Matt Caughthran was deep in a period of creative exhaustion when longtime collaborator Vincent Hidalgo, who is the son of Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, hit on a pulse-quickening guitar line in the studio and the Hidalgo family’s musical orbit goes back decades. He first met Vincent and his brother David Jr. in high school, where the three began playing music together and laying the foundation for a creative relationship that has now spanned more than 30 years.
After decades of collaboration, the spark was instant and to Caughthran, Vincent’s riff sounded like a hummingbird flapping its wings and the same bird he had been watching outside his writing window as he stared down a blank page. The block faded instantly as lyrics poured out of his brain: “I was staring at another empty page / Feeling every single second of my age.”
The video for “Songbird” was directed by Blaise Cepis, adding “whenever I direct a music video, I’m just trying to make something 11-year-old me would’ve stayed up late hoping to catch on 120 Minutes or Headbangers Ball. Thankfully I found 8 kindred spirits in mariachi el Bronx, who were the most incredible collaborators and were down for anything. I had such a great time with the band and the insanely talented gorgeous cast, I think 11-year-old me would approve.”
Photo Credit: Colin Hancock
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