SAN BENITO — The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center will host bajo sexto artist Jaime Gonzalez of Conjunto Delta Boyz for its 3rd Thursday Conjunto Nites at the Chicho.
At 31 years of age, Jaime glows with enthusiasm as he talks about his emergence with one of the best young conjunto bands in Texas, the Delta Boyz.
For him, it all began when he was a youngster and his father, Jesus Gonzalez, who was not a musician but who knew a little music, taught his son “primera, segunda, y tercera” on the bajo sexto.
It was from these first moments that Jaime began his musical career that has spanned more than 20 years.
Ten of those years were spent with the diabolical, explosive accordionist, Albert Zamora and Talento.
Jaime describes the experience with Zamora as a challenge in performing a show that included singing, playing and dancing all at the same time.
Jaime lives in Elsa and graduated from Edcouch Elsa High School in 2003.
He was a student of the late Bennie Layton who created the best and one of the few high school conjunto programs in Texas.
Alongside the foundation of Los Laytons, Jaime acknowledges the abundance of conjunto talent in the Delta area, for example, Ruben De La Cruz y Su Conjunto, Los Badd Boyz Del Valle and Los Frijoles Romanticos.
In 2012 and after playing with Alberto Zamora, Jaime and his brother Javier, who had about 15 years of conjunto experience with the late pioneering accordionist Ruben Vela, decided to form Los Delta Boyz.
That same year the Delta Boyz were named Upcoming Conjunto Band by the South Texas Conjunto Association.
They have played throughout Texas and performed at the 22nd Annual Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center Conjunto Festival and were scheduled to perform at the 35th Annual Conjunto Festival in San Antonio May 12-15.
When Jaime is not performing he stays busy as a truck driver with his own rig and raising his four children.
