Instruction in mariachi—the most Mexican of genres—is popular and getting more so in border states. Over 120 public schools in Texas teach it. The best ensembles come from the Rio Grande valley.

Ulloa credits Linda Ronstadt for raising the profile of mariachi women, a gauntlet picked up by the poly-stylistic Lila Downs ...

Last November, Oxford University Press published “The Mariachi Voice,” an unprecedented study of an artform that’s often misunderstood north of the border. She celebrates the book’s ...