Interviews were conducted at Ruben's Place, an iconic roadhouse just outside of San Antonio, Texas. The owner, Ruben Castro, tells us the history of the place.

On July 31, 2012, Smithsonian Folkways released GRAMMY-Award winning conjunto group Los Texmaniacs' Texas Towns & Tex-Mex Sounds. The 18-song album features a blend of polka, boleros, ballads, and Western swing, drawing from the rich tradition of Tex-Mex culture. This is their second album with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings following the GRAMMY-winning Borders y Bailes in 2009, and features renowned Western swing singer Ray Benson and fiddle player Jason Roberts from the group Asleep at the Wheel, as well as GRAMMY-winning fiddler Bobby Flores. Max Baca, a virtuoso of the bajo sexto (a type of 12-string guitar), formed Los Texmaniacs in 1997 after his decade-long career with popular and innovative group the Texas Tornados. The San Antonio-based quartet Los Texmaniacs have performed for US troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia/Kosovo, and have also played in China, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, acting as ambassadors of conjunto music and Texas culture worldwide. They also performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on three occasions.