The accomplished South Texas mariachi brothers who were detained at Dilley’s South Texas Immigrant Processing Center will open for country star Kacey Musgraves for several Hill Country performances.
The arrest of the brothers made headlines last month and drew national outrage, in part because of the accolades they have won with their music, including being honored at the U.S. Capitol.
Now, they will open for Texas-born Musgraves May 3-5 at the historic Gruene Hall as part of a tour to promote her new album Middle of Nowhere. Tickets go sale Tuesday for $65 via PreKindle.
Eighteen-year-old Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar and his brothers Caleb, 14, and Joshua, 12, were arrested on February 25 and detained with their parents at the family trailer prison in Dilley, about an hour southwest of San Antonio.
The Department of Homeland Security said the McAllen family had been living in the U.S. after entering illegally in 2023. Since moving to the United States from Mexico, the brothers had become prominent members of McAllen High School’s Mariachi Oro band, which has performed at Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships.
Nine months before they were detained, the brothers and their band had been invited to play at the U.S. Capitol, illustrating that the Trump administration’s broad immigrant dragnet wasn’t just picking up the “worst of the worst” as officials promised.
The brothers had played the Capitol at the invitation of their congresswoman, Monica De La Cruz, who later advocated for their release, despite being a Republican and an avid Trump supporter. San Antonio Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro, a frequent advocate for Dilley families, led the push for their release from the family lockup.
“Donald Trump said he was going after criminals,” Castro said at a press conference after the family was released. “He said he was going after people who are dangerous to Americans. Well, how is it that these two young men were good enough to perform at the United States Capitol at the invitation of their congresswoman?”
When the mariachi brothers went viral and became national news, Musgraves publicly expressed a desire to have them open for her. In the past, she’s also criticized President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and advocated for gun control, LGBTQ+ rights and cannabis reform.
Musgraves has won eight Grammy Awards, including Best Country Album for her 2013 debut, Same Trailer Different Park. She also won Album of the Year in 2019 for her release Golden Hour.
Among her notable and sometimes surprising collaborations, Musgraves has provided vocals on three Flaming Lips tracks including her feature on the single “Flowers of Neptune 6.”
Musgraves’ invitation to the Gámez-Cuéllar brothers might be a bit of smart publicity just in time for tickets to go on sale, but it also speaks to her abiding love for the musical tradition. In an NPR interview in March, Musgraves spoke glowingly of mariachi music and compared it to her own genre.
“Mariachi music is their folkloric country, so to speak,” said the 37-year-old born in the Texas town of Sulphur Springs. “It’s just so passionate and colorful and beautiful and full of emotion, and it’s sung with such gusto. I mean, when you’re singing those songs, you’ve got to sound like you’re bleeding out on the ground.”
$65, 7 p.m., May 3-5, Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall.com.
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