The Austin 100: Twanguero

By Stephen Thompson

Published March 5, 2019 at 5:01 AM EST

Hometown: Valencia, Spain

Genre: Global

Why We're Excited: Spanish guitarist Diego García goes by the name Twanguero — which makes sense, given that he describes his music as "Latin twang." In this case, that means finding a spot somewhere between the flamenco music on which he was raised and the low, percussive rumble of '50s-era Duane Eddy. At first blush, the mostly instrumental "Electric Sunset" could have come out at any point in the last 60 or so years, whether on a dusty 7" or in an ominous scene from a widescreen western, but Twanguero's considerable chops allow him to synthesize styles instead of imitating them.

Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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