The Tejano Music Awards are back at the Texas Rodeo Saloon in Katy for a second consecutive year Friday, with Jay Perez leading this year's nominees and organizers still deciding whether their new Houston-area home is permanent. The 46th annual ceremony kicks off with a 4 p.m. red carpet fan zone, followed by the main show at 7 p.m., with tickets starting at $39 and up.
The relocation marks a significant shift for an event that spent decades in San Antonio before organizers moved it to Katy in 2025, according to the Houston Chronicle. San Antonio is widely recognized as the epicenter of Tejano music, which made the move all the more notable when it happened. Organizer Bino Gaona has been blunt about why the awards left: staying in San Antonio another year, he said, likely would have bankrupted the organization.
Last year's debut in Katy drew roughly 2,100 people, with attendance described as comparable to previous years in San Antonio, according to Frank Salazar, vice president of the Tejano Music Awards. Salazar called the Houston-area response to last year's event tremendous, though he has not identified specific changes organizers plan to make to the show experience this time around. The organization says it will study, assess and consider this year's results before deciding the event's longer-term future — for now, Katy is home, but permanence remains undecided.
Jay Perez Leads a Crowded Nominee Field
Jay Perez, known to fans as La Voz, leads this year's nominees with five nominations across five categories, including Male Vocalist, Song of the Year and Album of the Year, according to KSAB-FM/iHeart. Ram Herrera and Stefani Montiel each picked up four nominations apiece. Herrera, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year's ceremony, is also part of this year's lineup of performers.
Among the newer names up for recognition is Amanda Solis, nominated for Best New Artist — Female after building a following as a Selena tribute artist and releasing her debut album, Space Vaquera. When her nomination was announced, Solis said her heart was full and called it a beautiful honor.
Friday's Lineup and Lifetime Honors
Friday's show is scheduled to feature performances from Avizo, Jay Perez, Siggno and Gary Hobbs, with Ricardo Castillon y La Diferenzia set to perform at the fan fair portion of the event. Johnny Hernandez and Ram Herrera received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 2025 ceremony, per Yahoo Entertainment, while veteran musician Hugo Guerrero is slated for an honor this year, according to the KSAB-FM/iHeart preview. Happy The Entertainer is slated to host the ceremony.
Last year's 45th awards, held at the same Katy venue, saw Monica Saldivar capture three major honors — Female Vocalist of the Year, Video of the Year and Collaboration of the Year — while Lucky Joe won Song of the Year for “Tumba Falsa,” according to Tejano Nation's recap of the 45th Tejano Music Awards. That inaugural Katy show sold out its tables within 72 hours, before any artist lineup or formal promotion had even been announced — a sharp contrast to the roughly 65% capacity sales the event saw at the same point in planning during its final San Antonio run, Gaona has said.
A Genre Searching for Its Next Stage
The move to Katy arrives as Tejano music grapples with a shrinking footprint on traditional radio and sales far below the multiplatinum peaks of the 1990s, even as U.S. Latin music revenue overall topped $1 billion for a third straight year in 2024. Houston has deep roots in the genre regardless: Lydia Mendoza, often called the First Lady of Tejano music, was born in the city, and Houston-based La Mafia helped reshape the sound in the 1990s by folding in pop and electronic influences.
Houston's Tejano radio presence got a boost in September 2025 when Puro Tejano 106.1 FM launched as the city's only 24/7 Tejano station, quickly building a Facebook following of almost 30,000. Still, the genre's visibility at marquee local events has faded — Emilio Navaira remains the last Tejano act to play RodeoHouston, back in 2007, nearly two decades after RodeoHouston launched Go Tejano Day in 1990 and years after Selena made her final RodeoHouston appearance in 1995.
Some voices in the scene argue the path forward requires more spectacle. David Olivarez has said younger crowds want to see a show, not just a concert, reflecting a broader push within Tejano music to modernize its presentation for new audiences. The same reporting has also noted that women in Tejano music continue to struggle for the same recognition as their male counterparts, a dynamic organizers and artists alike are still working to address as the genre looks for its next chapter.
