Once upon a time, a beloved Tejano singing sensation, Freddie Fender worked at a Corpus Christi car wash…
By Dave Silva
The late Freddy Fender (real name-Baldemar Huerta) was a native of San Benito, Texas but he had many ties to Mission, Texas. As a young man, he used to play in the beer joints and dance halls of South Mission. One of his first music contracts came from the Falcon Records label in 1957, owned and managed by Arnaldo Ramirez, Sr., who was a Mission native and its former mayor (1973-1981).
In addition, Fender was cast alongside native Mission, TX actor, the late Trinidad Silva in The Milagro Beanfield War, which was directed by Robert Redford and shot in New Mexico in 1986.
Today, singer/songwriter Rod Melancon has just released an album titled “Pinkville,” where one of the songs titled, “Corpus Christi Carwash,” is about the true life of Fender, and produced by Adrian Quesada.
According to Melancon, about ten years ago he was in Corpus Christi to promote his music and visited a radio station where he was interviewed by a DJ named “Daddy D.” After the interview, Daddy D walked him out to the parking lot where his car was at and told him the story about going to a Corpus Christi car wash in the early 1970s. While waiting for his car to be spruced up, he noticed a guy washing his car that looked a lot like Freddy Fender. Turns out it was in fact, Freddy!
He told him that although he was still playing music, he needed to supplement his career with a day job. He had been released from Angola (Lousiana) prison in 1963 and since then had toiled at different jobs.
That story planted the seeds for a song that Melancon would write and now just released.
“Corpus Christi Carwash” is about the Fender’s resurrection after falling into a creative and emotional abyss,” stated Melancon.
Further, according to the Melancon, the song’s lyrics include Freddy’s hometown of San Benito, Texas, Angola prison, and also references lyrics from Fender’s song, “Wasted Days, Wasted Nights” and “Before The Last Teardrop Falls,” among other South Texas notations.
For Rod Melancon’s full NPR Interview, CLICK HERE.
About Rod Melancon
Like the soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t yet exist, Rod Melancon’s “Pinkville” whips up a world filled with shellshocked war veterans, gun-wielding rock & rollers, and other down-on-their-luck characters, mixing cinematic details and electric guitars into its own version of greasy, gothic Americana. Melancon, a former actor who was raised by a theater teacher, cranks up the album’s cinematic sweet with help from Will Walden, who pulls double-duty as the album’s lead guitarist and co-producer.
Follow Rod on Twitter @RodMelancon
About Dave Silva
Silva is a 25-year veteran actor of Stage, TV, and Film. He is a native of Mission, Texas and a graduate of the University of Texas-Pan American. His stage credits include Lilies of The Field, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Zorro Live. Recent TV credits: Mayans M.C., Future Man, Shameless, among dozens of others. His current film credits: The soon to be released Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Thirsty Girl, Addicted to Fresno, among others. Silva is also a playwright and director for his work, Saigon, Texas and One Nation Under God. The late Alberto Dominguez and Silva were the co-creators/writers of the original Cafe California on KWHY, circa 1998, which was hosted by Cris Franco.
Readers: If you have stories about iconic Latino performing artists from your neck of the woods, we’d love to hear about it. Please email Elia Esparza at editor@latinheat.com.
