“Out of Laredo he came, carrying songs like weathered saddlebags, heavy with dust and memory. He moved north into the high country where the mountains lean against the sky, and he sang in bars and barns, in rodeos and roadside taverns. Folks leaned in, not for spectacle but for the truth in his voice.

They say he plays country the old way, and the new way... both, shifting from dance-halls to the slow reckonings of a man alone with his guitar. He's got Texas grit, rock-and-roll swagger, and the rough cut of a songwriter's trade.

The stories are plain and they go deep-lives worn hard, loves gone missing, a home you can see in your mind but can't quite reach. If you've ever chased a horizon that never answers back, you'll know this language.

Tonight the room is his, and the miles on the dance floor are ours.

Please welcome, Bo DePeña and his band!!”

-Bob Livingston (2025 Big Barn Dance - Taos, NM)