Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In South Texas, mariachi isn’t just music. It’s competition, culture, discipline, and pride.
At Uvalde High School, Mariachi Los Coyotes operates with the intensity of a varsity sport. Every note, every step, every uniform detail is judged. And leading the program is Albert Martinez—a teacher who once hated mariachi so much he tried to get out of the class entirely.
As a student, Albert wanted to play salsa and jazz, not mariachi. He fought it, resisted it, and judged it. Until one performance changed everything. Years later, after a professional career and decades teaching band, he found himself commuting more than an hour each way to rebuild a struggling high school mariachi program that students once treated as an “easy class.”
What started with kids on the floor and phones in hand turned into a disciplined ensemble, a first-division state award, and a program that reshaped how students carry themselves—on stage and off. Along the way, mariachi became a bridge between generations, reconnecting families with their heritage and giving students something bigger than a grade to believe in.
This is a Texas Country Reporter story about transformation—of music, of students, and of a teacher who discovered his purpose in the one place he never expected.
Albert Martinez
Uvalde High School Mariachi Band
Uvalde, Texas
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Texas Country Reporter
Episode #: 1957
Original air date: 3-1-2025
In South Texas, mariachi isn’t just music. It’s competition, culture, discipline, and pride.
At Uvalde High School, Mariachi Los Coyotes operates with the intensity of a varsity sport. Every note, every step, every uniform detail is judged. And leading the program is Albert Martinez—a teacher who once hated mariachi so much he tried to get out of the class entirely.
As a student, Albert wanted to play salsa and jazz, not mariachi. He fought it, resisted it, and judged it. Until one performance changed everything. Years later, after a professional career and decades teaching band, he found himself commuting more than an hour each way to rebuild a struggling high school mariachi program that students once treated as an “easy class.”
What started with kids on the floor and phones in hand turned into a disciplined ensemble, a first-division state award, and a program that reshaped how students carry themselves—on stage and off. Along the way, mariachi became a bridge between generations, reconnecting families with their heritage and giving students something bigger than a grade to believe in.
This is a Texas Country Reporter story about transformation—of music, of students, and of a teacher who discovered his purpose in the one place he never expected.
Albert Martinez
Uvalde High School Mariachi Band
Uvalde, Texas
Tik Tok ► vm.tiktok.com/ZMR7EpeVw
Facebook ► facebook.com/TexasCountryReporter
Instagram ► instagram.com/texascountryreporter
Texas Country Reporter
Episode #: 1957
Original air date: 3-1-2025
