On May 17, 1929, bandleader and saxophonist Isidro López was born in Bishop, Texas, in Nueces County.
Commonly known as “El Indio,” a nod to his father’s Mescalero Apache ancestry, López was a major innovator of the orquesta tejana sound as well as ranchera, conjunto, and bolero styles.
López grew up in a family of migrant cotton workers and attended high school in Corpus Christi where he also thrived as a young boxer. His early musical experiences included stints with the father of conjunto music, Narciso Martínez, and orquesta bandleaders Balde González and Juan Colorado…