2012 Tejano/Conjunto Artist/Band: Los Tovares

Los Tovares

"We do de todo," says Frank Tovar, the singer for Los Tovares, a six-piece that started as Los Hermanos Tovar in 1974 and still plays a variety of sounds at concerts and private events. Todo, everything, is an apt description: "Tejano, cumbias, norteñas, cumbias colombianas … But also country, disco, rock, oldies, '80s, … anything from the Cure to conjunto."

Besides Frank, Los Tovares is brothers Johnny and Santos Tovar on keyboards and drums, respectively, Paul Herrera on bass, Tony Cisneros on guitar, and Johnny Herrera (no relation to Paul) on accordion. They took the victory in this category (usually reserved to better-known, Grammy-winning artists) through a mix of good PR and an ability to adapt to the times, not something the Tejano music crowd is particularly known for.

"That's the great thing about having Facebook and a website," Tovar said. "At our gigs, we'd announce to our fans that the Current was having this poll, so we'd say, 'If you like our music, please show us some love.' And they did."

Will the newfound glory encourage them to continue using the internet to reach yet new heights? He laughs at the idea.

"Oh, I don't know," he says. "We've been at it for so long we don't know what we could do to make things any different. Right now, just to be able to play every weekend, we're more than grateful. We all have jobs, we don't do it as a living, but it's nice to finally get some kind of recognition after almost 40 years."

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