SAN ANTONIO — The stars will align on Sunday night as the 66th annual Grammy Awards air on CBS.
The awards show holds significance for some artists who got their start right here in the Alamo City. One local record shop has helped launch the careers of several Grammy greats, and continues to nurture new talent on the rise.
Del Bravo Record Shop, located on the west side, is known as one of the oldest record shops in Texas. The store is filled with vinyl records, CDs, cassette tapes and more for music enthusiasts to indulge in.
The shop is as rich in music as it is in history.
In 1966, Salome Gutierrez and his wife Diamantina opened their first record shop. Their daughter, who is one of eight children, said her parents only had a handful of records to sell on opening day.
“My dad used to be an engineer for Norteno Records," said Irma Gutierrez. "He brought vinyl that was already for sale from Norteno Records and filled up the wall with one vinyl. Let’s just say [for example], it was Green Day, he had 20 of these [vinyl] and they were all lined up against the wall—and we are open!”
The family’s success is celebrated on the walls of the record shop. Pictures, instruments and musical accolades decorate their late father’s office in the back of the store.
Rudy Gutierrez said his father also spent a lot of time in a recording studio in their garage at home. It’s where Salome Gutierrez made “the magic” and continued a passion he had for composing music.
He worked with numerous nominated and award-winning legends who contributed to the sounds we love in South Texas: David Lee Garza, Ruben Ramos, Lydia Mendoza and more.
One of those artists, Flaco Jimenez, even became a close family friend while on his road to the national spotlight.
“Our father would write songs and Flaco would sing the songs that my dad wrote just like this vinyl 'Los Recuerdos del Troquero,'" said Irma Gutierrez.
To date, Flaco has won six Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award which recognizes performers who have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording over their lifetime.
“Flaco was already born to be great, but Salome Gutierrez had a big part in him being where he is now,” Irma Gutierrez said.
Their father’s mission to work with rising talent continues decades later at Del Bravo. Irma Gutierrez said the store gets a lot of phone calls from new bands that are coming up and have recorded their new album.
“We film them and say, ‘Hey, we have a new artist… they have a new song and we have it here at Del Bravo,'" she said.
Del Bravo Record Shop is located at 554 Old US Highway 90.
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