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TO GIVE AN OVERVIEW<\/strong> of popular music from this enchanted land, I\u2019ve created a special playlist of 30 songs by New Mexico artists. Call it a virtual stuffed sopaipilla of sounds that span the early 1950s through recent years. It\u2019s available on YouTube to include some rarities and reach the widest possible audience.<\/p>\n Most of the tracks aren\u2019t well-known beyond our borders. But \u201cBottle of Wine\u201d by the Fireballs, who hailed from Rat\u00f3n, was a national Top 10 hit in 1968. And while Michael Martin Murphey is nationally known, his song \u201cSummer Ranges,\u201d included here, is not one of his major hits. I once heard him sing a heartbreaking rendition of it in Las Cruces at the funeral of a mutual friend.<\/p>\n The rest is a mix of rock, country, folk, Chicano soul, and traditional and contemporary Indigenous music. You\u2019ll hear love songs, sad songs, funny songs, historical songs, and one trippy psychedelic song, \u201cI Wanna Come Back from the World of LSD\u201d by the Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2.<\/p>\n Some cuts come from New Mexico\u2019s greatest labels: Lance, Frogville, and Hurricane\u2014a family operation in Albuquerque that released essential records of the late Al Hurricane and his brother Baby Gaby, among others. The list also includes Angel Espinoza\u2019s ode to one of New Mexico\u2019s most controversial political figures, \u201cEl Corrido de Emilio Naranjo,\u201d and a spooky lament to our most famous outlaw, Billy the Kid, by Nocturne Spark, the nom de song of musician Alysha Shaw, from Santa Fe.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking of Billy, we lead off with a song written by the daughter of Pat Garrett, the guy who killed him: Elizabeth Garrett\u2019s \u201cO Fair New Mexico,\u201d our official state song, recorded in 2014 by Cerrillos resident Busy McCarroll. There\u2019s also a classic country song, \u201cI Love You a Thousand Ways,\u201d written in the Chaves County jail by former Roswell resident Lefty Frizzell. He was 19 when he got in trouble with the law for a one-night stand with an underaged fan. The song was an apology to his wife.\u00a0<\/p>\n Compiling a list like this inherently means leaving out great choices. So please, after you hop down this musical rabbit hole, let us know what you think belongs here. Most importantly, don\u2019t worry about lists. Just keep supporting music by New Mexicans.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n