Star De Azlan and Leah Turner have joined Rissi Palmer on the latest episode of Color Me Country on Apple Music Country to discuss their new approaches incorporating their Hispanic heritage in their work and lives.
Star De Azlan and Leah Turner join Rissi Palmer on the latest episode of Color Me Country on Apple Music Country. Star was the first Latina to be signed to a country record label (she and Rissi have known each other for over a decade), and grew up singing mariachi and country in San Marcos and San Antonio, TX. Leah discusses staying true to her Mexican heritage along the course of her career, and got signed at the same time as her roommate Mickey Guyton in Nashville. Both artists discuss country music’s “love affair” with Hispanic culture, instrument, and sounds, but recall all the times they were told by those in the industry to downplay their heritage. Now Star and Leah have a newfound drive to push forward in their artistry without compromising on who they are, where they come from, or what others expect them to be.
Star De Azlan on the current movement in Country music and Color Me Country:
When you first reached out I’m not going to lie I was like a little bit scared because, because it’s Color Me Country, and it’s about a topic that if you say the wrong thing it can really piss somebody off. At the same time it’s like this is an opportunity for women like myself and like you – and like the other amazing and talented artists that you’ve interviewed and that are going to continue interviewing – this is an opportunity for us to voice what we’ve been through and an opportunity for us to get together. There’s power in numbers, so {it’s] an opportunity for us to collaborate and to make a difference. We can’t change the world. There will always be racism, there will always be violence against minorities…all of the things that are going on in the world. But when it comes to music that should be your safe place. That should be your place where you can come together as one race and make beautiful music.
Star De Azlan on what her experience was after being signed:
I started kind of losing who I am and the essence of what made me and brought me here and got me signed to the label – because you try to make everybody happy. It’s just not possible to make everybody happy and stay true to yourself. Since then, I’ve performed at so many places, I’ve written so many songs. And I’ve had a baby, and I’ve gotten married, and life has gone on. The one thing that hasn’t changed is my love for music, and my sense of feeling like country music is ingrained in my soul, and a part of my fabric, and what makes me who I am. It’s part of my artistry.
Star De Azlan on her new direction for her music:
I want to continue writing country music. I want to continue singing, adding my Spanish influences into there, some of the mariachi instruments, all those things. I remember on one of your interviews, you were saying how the banjo was an African instrument brought into country music, and how that was a huge influential part of country music. And so I think that’s the same with Mexican mariachi music. When country music was first being popularized in the 20s and 30s, like Bob Wills and the Texas Swing Band, they started incorporating trumpets and string instruments. Because of mariachi music. And I feel like bringing that back would just bring everything full circle. It’s not like we’re trying to reinvent the wheel. We are trying to just bring it back and let people decide for themselves.
Star De Azlan on her goals for her upcoming work:
I would really like to do like a Texas album. I’d really like to do that. So that’s kind of been in my head, like get different Texas artists or the artists that are Texas country music fans, get them to write some songs with me and maybe incorporate some Latin influences too. So, I mean, there’s just so many ideas that I have and that I would love to run with, but yeah, I am excited about it. I’m excited to get back on stage. And yeah, and just let people hear what I have to say and my music again.
Leah Turner on how she got started in music:
I’ve never not remembered being in music, but when I really took the leap is when I was in school in Santa Barbara, and started taking songwriting classes and I was just not doing what I went there to do; I was doing what I was meant to do. And in one of my songwriting classes, you were to write a song and the song that was chosen would be sang in front of a celebrity guests. And that celebrity guests happened to be Kenny Loggins. And so my song got chosen, and I was 19 years old and he was like, “Listen, I’m not telling you to drop out of school, but I’m saying…Pack your bags and get your butt out of here.” So I did that, and I called my mom and dad and I said, “I’m dropping out. I’m going to LA to pursue music.”
Leah Turner on working with David Foster and her decision to leave LA:
I got the music back and it was the most beautiful music that I’d ever heard. I mean, we recorded at Record Plant and we had the best of the best – I mean, everybody – they played on everybody’s records. I mean, it was a dream come true. But it wasn’t me…I think that’s where it started my path of really standing in my truth and really just being like, “okay, this is a huge opportunity, but it’s not going to be as huge for me because it’s not meant for me.” You know what I mean? This isn’t my lane, it isn’t. So I went up to them and I had to literally [say], “thank you so much but I’m not Barbara Streisand.” So I told them and they said, “okay, well, where do you want to be?” And I said, well, I’m country, I’m a cowgirl. This is the soundtrack of my life, every song, every word that Garth Brooks and Brooks and Dunn and George Strait and Trisha Yearwood and Tanya Tucker are singing, is the life we’re living. You know what I mean? So they set me up with some writes in Nashville and about, I would say eight months later, I hopped a flight on Southwest and a prayer. And here we are.
Leah Turner on her song ‘Once Upon A Time In Mexico’ and how her heritage influenced the track:
Well, for me, being half Mexican, being second generation Mexican American – my mom’s first generation – it just was a new layer to pull back and put in to my music. I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve always wanted to pay homage to both being a cowgirl and being half Mexican. When I went in to write [‘Once Upon A Time In Mexico’] with Jesse Frazier, I was like, “Hey, I have this idea. I think that it could be really awesome.”
My parents got married in a time where you didn’t marry outside your race and they did. And Country music has always had such a love affair with the Latino culture, with the Mexican culture, with the Hispanic culture. You know what I mean? And so for me to be both of that and the real deal – I mean, I grew up team roping and barrel racing and cutting horses and doing all of that stuff. And then to be second generation Mexican American, it just came so wonderfully together, that I’m living my diverse life through a country song.
And I always feel like, when somebody falls so in love with your culture that they want to become kind a part of it, is such a compliment. You know what I mean? I feel that way. So, but it’s exciting to really be able to say like, “I filmed my video in Rosarito, Mexico at my aunt and uncle’s house. You know what I mean? I am bilingual. I do speak Spanish. I am a real cowgirl. I am second generation Mexican American. I am that country song that y’all are singing about.
Leah Turner on her upcoming music plans:
[My goal] for the future is really just embracing that Latin culture. We’re putting out an E.P. in beginning of June and have written a bunch of really cool songs with some great producers and writers. And it’s very back and forth in Spanglish, I would say. So, it’s just sprinkling Spanish throughout it and really having those flamenco guitars really having just that vibe.
About Color Me Country w/ Rissi Palmer
On her Color Me Country radio show on Apple Music Country, artist Rissi Palmer spotlights underrepresented Black, indigenous and LatinX country artists. Rissi’s appeared on CBS This Morning NPR, GMA, The New York Times, NBC, AP, and more talking about representation in country music. Previous guests on her show include Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, and she recently did a roundtable with Maren Morris, Cam and Andrea Williams on How To Be An Ally. Color Me Country is also currently showcased in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s “American Currents: State of the Music” exhibition, and Rissi just returned to the Grand Ole Opry stage after 13 years. In December, Rissi also launched a fund for artists of color. So far she’s disbursed 18 grants, of which many have been guests on her radio show.
