California-born singer/songwriter and bassist Freddy Trujillo has announced his forthcoming album, I Never Threw a Shadow at It, arriving on May 27, 2024. It was recorded by his bandmate in The Delines, Cory Gray.
Hailing from a musical family, Trujillo’s father, Fred Sr. sang and played guitar in various groups, including The Beethovens, an all-Chicano beat combo who gigged during the great Garage-Rock boom of the mid-1960’s.
Freddy Jr. himself played with Pat Smear (Nirvana, Germs) and many other local L.A. acts during the Punk/Alternative music that hit L.A. in the ’80’s/’90’s. Freddy later re-located to Portland, Oregon and released his debut solo record Hawks & Highways, which dealt with the intertwining of Native American and Chicano experiences in Rock ‘n Roll form.
Today, we’re very happy to premier the first single from Trujillo’s upcoming album, “I Didn’t Cross the Border, The Border Crossed Me”, here at Wildfire Music + News. It is being released today, Friday, February 2nd, 2024.
The song revolves around the central, inflammatory statement so often heard in America and in other countries, leveled at anyone perceived to be “other”, to “go back where you belong” or “go back where you came from.” Exploring that idea fully, Trujillo corrects that statement by sharing the history behind his heritage, where Mexicans in the Southwest were caught in the middle as borders changed and changed again.
Trujillo is very composed in the face of these false assumptions about nationality and belonging, looking for a way to spread understanding. The music’s melodic underpinnings and laid back tempo support that atmosphere of calm strength. This is clearly a song that’s written from the place of self-knowledge and experience, which are very effective antidotes to small-minded attitudes. The electric guitar work in the song brings a further contemplative feel to the subject matter and really punctuates the sense of self-assured protest while staying grounded in a broad perspective of history and identity.
Freddy Trujillo shares about the song:
The song is inspired by Los Tigres del Norte”s song ‘Somos Mas Americanos.’ The idea is challenging the statement, ‘Go Back to Where you Belong,” a statement that is often the sentiment towards Mexicans. But this song is pointing out that the entire Southwest was once Mexico and there were millions of Mexican people like my family that had the border cross them. A theme that I keep using on all my albums. It is on the new record because, like I said, it is a story that needs to be told. Since taking Chicano Latino Studies classes at Portland State I seem to keep figuring out new ways of saying the same thing. Those classes empowered me.
Trujillo has been a player on the Portland scene, performing with artists like Curtis Salgado and Fernando. Besides his own solo band with three records under his belt, Freddy has also been a full-time member of The Delines, which is the latest project by novelist Willy Vlautin.
Freddy’s latest 2022 release is Sketch of a Man. It was recorded over one hot week with longtime collaborator and Producer Luther Russell in L.A. The album has memoir qualities and combines lyrical themes exploring Freddy’s Chicano roots and tracing his journey from his childhood home in Simi Valley to Hollywood California.
