Rancho Alegre Interview - Crystal n Crew

Recorded in November 2012 at the Garcia home in Pasadena, Texas.

When we recorded this interview, Crystal N Crew was one of the youngest groups in conjunto.  With all members under the age of 17, the family band from Pasadena included Crystal Garcia on bajo sexto, Jose Garcia on accordion, and Lily Garcia on drums. They’ve had a couple of bass players, including Anthony Diaz (included in this interview) and current bassist Isaiah Tellez.

On one of our road trips, we stopped by the Garcia home to get to know the group and their family. We found that they not only have youth, but they also have heart and passion for the music. Crystal is a songwriter, and all the kids knew who Ruben Naranjo was. Pretty impressive, considering other kids their age only knew Justin Bieber or Bruno Mars at that time.

At that time, Conjunto was especially hot, with a lot of young groups with great energy bringing life to the genre. Masters and legends were welcoming them with open arms and marveling at their skill and dedication.

At the 2013 Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival, we had several extremely talented young conjuntos including Los Morales Boyz, Los Conjunto Kidz, Randy Garcia y Conjunto Estrella, and of course Crystal N Crew. In what we consider a historic moment, Crystal N Crew were joined onstage by Pico Ramirez, longtime bajo sexto player and second voice and original member of Ruben Naranjo y Los Gamblers.

Since then, the group has grown up and started careers and families. They last performed as Crystal n Crew in 2024 and released a single that same year. 

We hope you enjoy getting to know just a few of the faces of the bright future of Conjunto.

Here's what we played: