Jorge "El Guero" Hernandez may be the best-known regional Mexican artist with Milwaukee roots. Most of a decade has passed since he and brother Rogelio moved to San Antonio, but El Guero's Banda Centenario still nurtures a unique take on the often-manic Duranguense subgenre on the group's sixth album.
Amid the crazed drum fills and klezmer-like hyperkinetics, the Hernandez brothers (Rogelio plays the requisite bass drum with the cymbal on top) and their mates inject R&B nuances into the mix. With Guero's lyrics and yearning tenor in an imploring lover-man mode, the urban touches come naturally enough. Even the bonus track, a recasting of one of the album's other songs for Spanish-language pop radio, sounds like it could land on adult contemporary soul stations. It's not likely a song Banda Centenario would play live, but YouTube clips prove that audiences connect passionately when El Guero leads those crazy Durango polkas and cumbias.
