On June 21, 1917, songwriter and guitarist Lonnie Guerrero was born in Manor.
As a young man, Guerrero made the move to Austin and began to travel throughout Central Texas as a self-taught musician. Guerrero was particularly interested in the corrido tradition of epic narratives and folk ballads composed in reaction to community events — a living newspaper in song, of sorts.
These ballads were not only passed on as a part of anonymous folk tradition like the “Corrido de Kiansis” on the classic 1800s cattle drives or “Corrido of Gregorio Cortez” about the legendary turn-of-the-century fugitive. They continued to interpret current events, a way of processing the flow of history in the moment.
In this vein, one of Guerrero’s most poignant compositions was “La Tragedia del Presidente Kennedy” on the 1963 assassination of JFK in Dallas, a figure whose stature in Texas Mexican circles is symbolized by the “Viva Kennedy” campaigns that had mobilized Latino voters in the Southwest.
Most of Guerrero’s working life involved day jobs with the Austin Independent School District, the Internal Revenue Service, and the East Austin Chicano Economic Development Corporation. All the while, he continued as a performing guitarist and songwriter, with his compositions recorded by the likes of Isidro López, Little Joe, and Guerrero’s nephew, pioneering singer and guitarist Manuel “Cowboy” Donley of East Austin.
