Music of New Mexico

New Mexico is a state of the Southwest United States. The state has music traditions dating back to the ancient Anasazi and Pueblo people, Navajo, Apache, and the Spanish Santa Fe de Nuevo México; these old traditions are found in both their original folk forms and as a modern folk genre known as New Mexico music.

During the 1940s, the town of Clovis was home to the Norman Petty Studios, where Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and Waylon Jennings recorded.^[1] A well-known 1960s group hailing from New Mexico was The Fireballs scoring a #1 Hot 100 hit in 1963 called "Sugar Shack".^[2] Native American rock group Xit were signed and recorded Plight of the Redman (1972) and Silent Warrior (1973) for a subsidiary of Motown Records, Rare Earth Records.^[3] During the 1970s and 80s, New Mexico musicians Al Hurricane and Al Hurricane Jr. became recognized on the nationally and internationally syndicated Val De La O Show.^[4]

The English-language state song of New Mexico is "O Fair New Mexico", adopted by the state legislature in 1917. In 1971, "Así Es Nuevo México" was adopted as the Spanish-language state song. In 1989, the legislature adopted "Land of Enchantment" by Michael Martin Murphey as the official state ballad; and in 1995, the legislature adopted "New Mexico - Mi Lindo Nuevo México" by Pablo Mares as the state's official bilingual state song.^[5]