Rachel was raised by her Spanish-speaking grandmother Rosinalda when her parents settled in Chamisa, a small village located in the beautiful Penasco Valley. She moved to Questa with her parents where she graduated from high school, married and now lives with her rancher husband and two teenagers.
Determined to keep alive the traditional songs of New Mexico and Mexico, Rachel is working on her bachelor’s degree at New Mexico Highlands University in music education. She has studied voice and plays guitar. Her music compositions in both Spanish and English follow the long held tradition of “corridos – songs of the people.” “ I would like to keep the art of the region’s music alive and contribute some of my own folk songs.”
Pleased and grateful to Open Studio for this opportunity, Rachel plans to take the skills she learns through the training to promote to a global audience the story telling through song that is a time honored tradition in New Mexico.
