Midnight Mezcal twangs Tex-Mex, country swing at Bayou Theater

With roots firmly planted in American classic country music, The Midnight Mezcal will deliver a blend of honky tonk, conjunto and western swing — Mexican style — in a free performance at the Bayou Theater at University of Houston-Clear Lake Wednesday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. Registration for the event is free online.

The group's founder, guitarist and lead vocalist Roberto Fabre, said as a Mexican-born Texas resident, he's grown up in the midst of two cultures.

"When I came to the United States, I missed my home and everything familiar, but then I thought that there were so many similarities," he said. "It's actually a beautiful marriage of two cultures. I loved American genres of music, and I realized that in both Texas and Mexico, the concept of the cowboy is the same. That cowboy culture is a jumping-off point for me in music."

In small-town Texas, Fabre said, people wear cowboy boots and hats just as they do in Mexican small towns. "Midnight Mezcal is my musical adventure," he said. "I play with experienced musicians like me that have a love for American classic country, but through our own Mexican roots. When I play songs from Ramon Ayala, I like to make it danceable to a two-step. What I love about country is that it's so danceable, which is what connects to the audience."

The result, he says, is music that comes from the marriage of the two cultures.

The Tex-Mex twangy sound is as popular as...well, Mezcal itself, he said. "Mezcal is a drink, like tequila, but it's very 'country,'" he said. "They drink it in the small towns and in the rancherias. Our name, Midnight Mezcal, evolved because the music we play is something that evolves from the middle of the night."

Along with guitarist and vocalist Mint Parker and bassist Mark Slap, Fabre will perform in person at the Bayou Theater, singing in English, Spanish and even Spanglish. "If you're a honky tonk or country music fan, you might not realize the music south of the border is so similar," he said. "There's a lot of combined culture that we have that Texas needs to know. Midnight Mezcal delivers that."