Here in the desert joyful subtleties, like a patch of singing frogs holed up in the bottom of the canyon, hold me captive. The truth is resident amphibians can’t compete with the brawny vocals of the living legends, the vaqueros of baja, who are guides and daily companions on our mule trips. There is even a song about the cowboys of baja in English. You can find it on the DVD called Corazon Vaquero. The other morning we sang the chorus on the trail below rancho Guadalupe. The guides all know the song. They should know it; they are the movie stars in the film about ranch life and 200 year old traditions in the mountains. Many visitors to the famous cueva pintada sites have been interested in ranch history for some time. The system of guiding in the World Heritage Site, organized with support by the government (INAH), and the existence of remnant adobe mission structures and indigenous history has prompted many americans to spend enough time in the mountains (researching and playing) to subsidize their existence. The movie, made in 2008, highlights the unique characteristic of the people who populate the landscape in the sierras which I have grown to love. On a recent spring ride, called Eva’s Annual, these very guides sang ranchera musica into the night. Eva’s favorite is You are my Sunshine and she submits her requests nightly (the original Spanish version, of course). Teddi, a baja lover in her own right, brought her guitar and brought me to tears with a soulful folk song about the region.
In a different mountain range to the south, the Sierra de Guadalupe, we were treated to a 6 day ride into an expansive valley of mesquites. We camped in a stone corral above an arroyo and met a family with a boy who wants to be a tocadora. His exposure to the world is through a radio with dedications and announcements offered each day from faraway Guaymas. He is ten and he has memorized a corrido about the latest hurricane called Jimena that not only stormed though the mountains creating wider arroyos, but dumped giant guejibos and palms on the Pacific side of the peninsula. The winds and rains stretched northeast hitting the Mexican mainland where some famous group wrote the song. He entertained us with the song played on his homemade guitar.
Here is some info about the history of Mexican corridos found in the Cowboy Encyclopedia, by Richard W. Slatta, 1994. 
"Because vacqueros were illiterate, they left few personal records. Some vaquero folklore passed into Mexican Corridos. These folk songs have eight-syllable lines, with the second and fourth lines rhymed. Regional variations are legion, for example, the Huasteca variant often includes cowboy yells (gritos de vaquero)."
Listen on youtube to a new song... Los cenzontles
