Reginald D. Hunter’s Songs of the Border (BBC Four Friday 20 January 2023)

Reginald D. Hunter’s Songs of the Border airs a new episode tonight Friday 20 January 2023 on BBC Four.

Reginald D. Hunter embarks on a 2,000-mile road trip along the US-Mexico border to investigate the musical drama unfolding at the intersection of third-world Mexico and first-world America, against the backdrop of President Trump’s much-touted wall.

Whether it’s Marty Robbins’s El Paso, The Drifters’ Mexican Divorce, or Ry Cooder’s Across the Borderline, classic American pop and country paint Mexico as a location of escape, passion, and peril. Hunter investigates contemporary border music, much of it is performed by performers drawn from the estimated 36 million Mexican-Americans who are US citizens, against this evocative western soundscape. The western songwriter’s dream of Mexico as a place of romance, fun, and escape is cast into sharp relief by the reality of immigration, drug smuggling, and Mexican-American identity as reflected in Robin Hood stories of Mexican cartels, South American dance, Tex-Mex accordion, Mexican-American rap, border fence sound art, and Mexican and American flavours of country music.

Reg’s innate compassion and kindheartedness serve as our tour guides on this filmic adventure, featuring Lyle Lovett, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Frontera Bugalu, Calexico, Carrie Rodriguez, Asleep at the Wheel, Los Texmaniacs, Glenn Weyant, Eva Ybarra and Cecy B.

Airdate: Friday 20 January 2023 at 11.30pm on BBC Four.

Featured Image Credit: BBC Four