Pepe Aguilar brings new sounds to his storied career

Latin music superstar Pepe Aguilar is a busy man, and he has no plans on slowing down any time soon.

The Grammy Award-winning artist, who returns to Gallo Center for the Arts on Friday, July 8, has released more than 25 albums in his prolific career. Aguilar played a sold-out show at the Gallo Center in September 2014, which at the time its CEO Lynn Dickerson called “a feather in our cap.”

This time around, Dickerson said, will probably be the last time they are able to book Aguilar for a while. He has expressed an interest in only playing 3,000-capacity venues. The Gallo Center has 1,250 seats in its Mary Stuart Rogers Theater.

Earlier this year Aguilar released his latest single “María,” from his new album, “No Lo Habia Dicho.”

“The single is something I haven’t done before,” Aguilar, 47, told the El Paso Times. “It’s like a cumbia-reggae-rock sound. It’s a new sound for my career.”

Aguilar, who began his recording career singing traditional ranchera-style songs, has never shied away from experimenting with different styles – having branched out to include pop and rock on his many albums.

“On this album, we have more interest in good songs than just genre or style of music,” Aguilar said. “We just want a bunch of good songs, and if it happens to be cumbia or rock – it is.”

Aguilar said he’s never been afraid to switch things up. A little-known fact is that Aguilar started off singing in rock bands before switching to ranchera in the 1990s.

“Back then, it was basically that I wasn’t successful at rock,” Aguilar laughed. “To me, though, rancheras and rock were the same thing.

“I felt at home in both genres.

“I didn’t make it in rock; it wasn’t the right time. I wasn’t good enough back then. But rock and rancheras, corridos, they intertwine. They have the same basis.”

He recently joined Spanish rocker Enrique Bunbury on his live album, “MTV Unplugged: El Libro De Las Mutaciones.”

“This is a perfect example,” Aguilar said. “It’s not what people know me for, but we are similar in the way we look at life and music. Part of being in the new millennium is the mix of culture and ideas that now go well together.”

Aguilar, who was born in San Antonio, said he learned a lot about show business and versatility from his famous parents – Mexican singers and actors Flor Silvestre and the late Antonio Aguilar.

Aguilar said his mother is well and living in Zacatecas, Mexico.

“I just saw her for the holidays, and she occasionally joins me on stage. I’m happy people remember her and respect her,” Aguilar said.

Now, two of his four children are the third generation of Aguilars attempting to make it in show business. His son and daughter, Leonardo and Angela, released “Nueva Tradición,” an album produced by their dad in 2013.

“It’s hard for me to give them advice on how to be entertainers,” Aguilar said. “I can give them pointers on what has worked and not worked, but they have to go through their own stuff. I encourage them to follow their true artistic nature. Everything follows after that.”

Aguilar says audiences on his tour will get a taste of some new material, in addition to fan favorites.

“For me, live shows are the climax,” Aguilar said. “It’s a celebration. I try to include songs that I really dig, not necessarily just the ones that are hits. … If I could sing all 26 albums, I would. But then, it would be a nine-hour show and that would be boring, even for me.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Pepe Aguilar brings new sounds to his storied career."