Fox Street is on the east side of inner loop downtown Houston right off Navigation Blvd. It’s a predominately lower-middle class Mexican American neighborhood where my mother grew up in a small modest wooden house. She used to walk home from school daily, throwing rocks at the neighborhood boys who used to harass her.

My grandmother was a single mother, worked most her life for the Trailways bus company as a station custodian to keep food on the table and a roof over her family’s heads. Her husband, my grandfather, left Houston for Chicago looking for work when my mom was 7. My mom only met her dad twice, leaving his eldest son, her brother, as “man” of the house.  He worked every day of his life since he was 12 to help contribute to the family.

My father left when I was 2, leaving my mom in similar terrain. She raised three kids in a modest 2 1/2 bedroom house as a single mother while working split shifts at the local telephone company for over 30 years so she could juggle school schedules and feeding the kids. It was tough living a lot of the time, no family vacations, a troubled brother who spent a Christmas in jail, and there was even a period of time where we slept on the floor with no AC just trying to keep cool through the hot and humid Houston summers. Watching my parents argue was a norm whenever my father would randomly show up, sometimes drunk, often leaving behind a lingering reminder of heartbreak and hard times in a broken home.

Being a person of color and dads leaving at an early age, it happens to a lot of us, and if that’s where you come from you’re lucky if you make it out the other side with any kind of somewhat functional life. These stories are unfortunately the norm and a large part of the American fabric. I found there was nothing else to do, but play my guitar loud, steer heavy energy into the music, and turn this story into art, because you could say the blues has been following my family around for a long time.

I grew up playing the blues in Houston, TX, sneaking into clubs at 17 and sitting in with older musicians learning what I could about this rich musical heritage that hails in a large part from Houston (Albert Collins, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Gatemouth Brown, Billy Gibbons). It’s been a lifelong endeavor, putting a blues album together, and a challenging one, I think more so than anything because the blues has been such a personal part of my life. I wanted it to be as honest as possible.

I’m proud of this album, and the songs I’ve selected, showing both my appreciation for the blues songwriters that came before me while also trying to compliment it with where the blues have taken me, both as a person and as a songwriter.  This album is real life stories, real life blues.

MUSICIANS:
Nick Diaz - Vocals/Guitars/Bass/Percussion
Sam Powell - Keyboards 
Jeff Olson - Drums
Mark Henne - Drums on Big Hips, Smooth Lips, Wet Kiss // Bandito Blues
Matty Amendola - Drums on Nothing To Lose // Where’s The Funk in The Neighborhood

Recorded, Produced, Mixed by Nick Diaz Austin, TX
Mastered by Kevin Blackler Brooklyn, NY

www.buenosdiazmusic.com

Where's The Funk In The Neighborhood

Nothing To Lose

Big Hips, Smooth Lips, Wet Kiss

Bandit Blues

We all chase something in life, endlessly.  Success, fame, money, drugs, family, love, women, men, friends, rock n roll, whether we know it or not.  Human nature seems to be at home in some form of addiction.    

Vocals/Guitars/Bass/Keyboards/Percussion by Nick Diaz
Drums by Greg Clifford
Additional Vocalsby Michael Saint Clair
Written and Recorded by Nick Diaz in Austin, TX
Mixed by Dan Workman in Houston, TX
Mastered by Kevin Blackler in Brooklyn, NY

Cocaine Queen

We work too hard.  We're always in a rush.  Like little nervous crickets, the noisy hustle and bustle in our heads only seems to amplify the more we go go and go. Gotta blow off steam, it's important, even if it's on a Monday night.

Vocals/Guitars/Bass/Keyboards/Percussion by Nick Diaz
Drums by The Drum Machine
Written and Recorded by Nick Diaz in Austin, TX
Mixed by Dan Workman in Houston, TX
Mastered by Kevin Blackler in Brooklyn, NY

Amplified Crickets

Death is an inevitable unknown journey we all have to take as humans.  It can be scary, but it's ok to wonder about, think about, and to think about the people who've already passed, cause eventually, we all are headed there.

Vocals/Guitars/Keyboards/Percussion by Nick Diaz 
Drums by Greg Clifford
Written and Recorded by Nick Diaz in Austin, TX
Mixed by Dan Workman in Houston, TX
Mastered by Kevin Blackler in Brooklyn, NY

Garden

Four years of Trumpism were a tough time for a lot of us.  It's like the country was being led by an inept gangster who didn't care about anyone except himself and his crony gangster buddies.  Sure would be nice to be able to go back and rewind to a time before all those people voted him into office.

All instruments by Nick Diaz
Written and Recorded by Nick Diaz in Austin, TX
Mixed by Dan Workman in Houston, TX
Mastered by Kevin Blackler in Brooklyn, NY

Please Be Kind, Rewind

A little bit Tex-Mex, a little bit blues, a little bit singer/songwriter, a lot of rock and roll. Born and raised in Houston, Tx, Nick Diaz honed his craft over the years spending time and performing in New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco and now Austin, Tx. 2017 and 2019 saw Diaz stand alongside Texas legend Alejandro Escovedo as his lead guitarist while Buenos Diaz drummer, Jeff Olson, held down the drum seat for Austin indie rockers White Denim. Charlotte, NC native Mike Saint Clair rounds out the trio on bass having worked with Okkervil River, White Denim and Polyphonic Spree. Buenos Diaz has released 2 full length records, 2 EP’s, along with a slew of singles released throughout the entirety of 2019. 2020 will see Buenos Diaz release their new EP "I Want You" produced by grammy award winning producer/guitarist Beto Martinez (Brownout, Grupo Fantasma). 98.9 KUTX has coined their recordings as “lo-fi loveliness and analog excellence” while No Depression Magazine said “Diaz guitar work blew me away”. Whether it’s gritty Texas blues, in your face NY punk, retro new wave, or contemporary folk, Buenos Diaz is sure to fit a taste of Texas in each song.

OFFICIAL 2018, 2019, 2020 SXSW SHOWCASING ARTIST!

In a year that would cripple most acts, Nick Diaz seems to just roll with the punches ~ Closed Cap

well on his way to breaking into the mainstream ~ SKOPE MAGAZINE 

he's got star-power that he's just starting to tap into ~ VENTS MAGAZINE

a true front man ~ TOO MUCH LOVE

lo-fi loveliness! analog excellence ~ KUTX SONG OF THE DAY

reaching a new peak with his art ~ THE INDIE SOURCE

great solos and riffs that any listener would like  ~ WLOY RADIO

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