Roel Florez is a conjunto musician at heart.

When he could no longer play, he had to find other means to express his love for conjunto.

Florez-Sandoval keeps his Tejano roots alive, not just with a guitar, but with a paintbrush.

Many of his paintings incorporate the main conjunto instruments: an accordion and a bajo sexto, or a 12-string guitar.

“My theme in all my paintings is field work,” Florez-Sandoval said. “It’s the connection of the music with the fields. The conjunto music came out of the fields. That’s where it was born.”

He says migrant workers would play conjunto music to escape reality and unwind.

“I can’t separate them. To me, they go together, field work and music––this kind of music, conjunto music,” Florez said.

Florez hoped to use his music to get out of the fields.

“I wrote a whole bunch of songs. I recorded six, seven of my songs––got recorded. I wrote about 200. I played almost all my life.”

Today, the conjunto musician turned painter has sold hundreds of paintings, had some in a Smithsonian traveling exhibit, and even gotten recognition from Washington D.C.

Now, he hopes his memory and the origins of Tejano conjuntos will live on through his art.

If you’re interested in hearing more about his story, you can get his new biography on Amazon. It’s called La Ultima Pesada and it’s named after one of his paintings.