Mando Saenz

Genre: Singer-Songwriter Hometown: Houston TX
www.mandosaenz.com

Wednesday, March 15   8:00 p.m.
Creekside EMC at Capitol Place   (500 N IH 35)

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  Mando Saenz - When I Come Around
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Mando Saenz Biography

On Watertown, plaintive Texas troubadour Mando Saenz sings of the rich and rocky terrain of his home state, its man-made churches, roads and bridges and its wandering souls. In the spirit of fellow Lone Star State legends Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt, Saenz’s lonesome Texas tales transcend state lines and speak of human nature and folly and of time lost. The themes, for this new artist and songwriter, are universal.

Born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Saenz grew up in Corpus Christi and was raised by his music-loving parents on an eclectic diet: songwriters of the 60s and 70s, traditional Mexican music, the Everly Brothers. An early start with guitar lessons at 11 and 12, however, did not yield any great interest in a music career. Instead, Saenz dabbled, singing in private through high school and college while learning to strum along.

“After a couple of years in college,” says Saenz, “I became more interested in playing. It was there that the idea of actually playing music for a living first entered my head.”

Yet Saenz, who confesses to post-college identity issues, detoured into graduate school in San Antonio. “At the time, I went there because it seemed safe and responsible,” he admits. “It wasn’t until I was about to receive my MBA that I really started playing out a lot and getting serious about songwriting.”

A handful of songs from that period appear on Watertown, Saenz’s debut album. The sweetly resigned opener, “Julia,” about a condemned prisoner’s abiding love for an old flame, eyes “blue for miles.” The wistful, harmonica-driven “All I Own.” The moodily nostalgic “Watertown,” where “the bridge is high and the water is low, just like you and me.”

Soon after moving to Houston on a half-hearted job hunt, Saenz continued to write new material, including “When I Come Around,” a ballad of pathos and illusions and a Watertown highlight. Saenz also began making the rounds at various local open mic nights and recording demos during the day with his brother, Marcos, a Houston-based engineer.

Saenz distinct, laidback vocal delivery was already present from the first day in the studio. A proper album came easily and more shows were booked.
“It all happened so naturally,” he says, “that, in retrospect, it never really was much of a decision to pursue music full time.”




Ask Saenz for the principles he retains from business school versus the goings-on of the music biz and he’ll speak of the “importance of ‘quality’ in any product.” Watertown was ‘quality,’ no question, and fortunately for Saenz, the recordings would end up in the hands of Nashville producer, publisher and Carnival Music co-founder Frank Liddell.

“Lise Liddell, who I knew from Houston, had passed the CD on to her brother,” remembers Saenz. A year later, while on a low-budget coffeehouse tour, Saenz was departing Memphis when he received an unexpected call from Liddell suggesting the pair hook up for a beer in Nashville.

“I just liked him,” says Liddell. “He has incredible tone, texture, pitch – everything I could say about someone who has a great voice. But he also sings with pain, soul, emotion and an understanding of his lyrics. There is so much heart in his voice that you believe what he is saying.”

Liddell soon signed Saenz as a writer and as an artist. The budding Carnival Records imprint will release Watertown in early 2005.

“I’ve had my share of strokes from Lady Luck,” says Saenz, “but perhaps the biggest came when I met Frank. Not only in terms of his experience and track record in music, but more so in that he understood what I did and where my music is coming from.”

“His songs are very metaphoric and original in rhyme, scheme and phrasing” continues Liddell. “He comes at you from the more eccentric side of Texas music that is often overlooked.

Influenced by not just Texas artists but also genres such as indie rock, as well as fellow tortured songwriters like Ron Sexsmith and Rufus Wainwright, Saenz concedes, “I’ll always be roots-y. The way I sing, my accent, the way I play guitar. But it’s always cool to see how it mixes with other types of music.

At the end of the day, Saenz believes that “songs are songs. Whether they were written in Texas or Idaho shouldn’t have any bearing on them being worth anything.” Seanz even pokes gentle fun at the genre on Watertown with the tongue-in-cheek Texas Music send-up, “Egg Song.”

It’s a nice comic relief from an otherwise heavy yet rewarding debut album. Saenz is currently road-testing its material throughout Texas, and, with the upcoming Carnival release of Watertown, a larger stage may be waiting.