Regular viewers of NBC’s The Voice may remember a show-stopping artist from El Paso, Texas, Valerie Ponzio, who, in 2017, made it her mission to shatter precedents for Latin artists in the world of country music.
When I heard Ponzio’s current single, “American Smoke,” I never would have guessed she was Hispanic except from her name. She sounds as country as the next Nashville girl, with a quasi-patriotic tune that explores her reality of living in the USA as a Latina American.
Growing up in El Paso in the early 2000s, Ponzio came from a musical family. Her mother and sister are both notable vocalists. Her brother, who passed away 15 years ago, greatly influenced Ponzio’s songwriting. She listened to a lot of pop and rock. Her mother loved country music, but at parties they also played a lot of traditional Tejano and Cumbia music. She listened to Shania Twain and The Chicks, and was particularly influenced by Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow.
On The Voice, Ponzio sang her original version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” earning her a four-chair turn-around. Ultimately, she teamed up with Blake Shelton, who helped solidify her country music career.
Shortly thereafter, Ponzio moved to Nashville. When she got there, she thought, “Okay, this makes much more sense for me. I have been looking for this kind of guidance and culture in music and songwriting. I knew it was out there, but for whatever reason, I did not get out here sooner.”
After settling in Nashville, one of Ponzio’s first songs was the ethereal, sensual “Timeless,” which came out in English and Spanish. In 2019, Ponzio released “I Could Fall In Love,” a song that signaled what was to come.
Not long after, Ponzio wrote”¡Órale!” which is Spanish for “Hell, yeah!” The video was filmed in her hometown of El Paso, and she was going to release it in August of 2020. But tragedy struck her town when a gunman killed 22 people at a local Walmart. She didn’t feel it was right to release such a celebratory song when her city was in such deep grief. Once the city had healed, she knew it was time to share the song.
Ponzio was also a part of the inaugural class of CMT’s and mtheory’s Equal Access program, which provided invaluable support. “It was totally unexpected, but it was 2021, and so COVID made things a little weird, and it was nice to have that equal access that brought everything together for me to pick back up and get in the studio recording, get music out,” she shared.
In 2021, Ponzio released the simple, heartfelt tune “Little Obsessed,” the same year she married her musician, producer husband, Mike Minjarez, who also became her manager. The line “I’d be fine getting lost with you” makes it clear he inspired the song.
Other notable songs that have earned the singer-songwriter recognition include fan favorites “Desert Rain” (2022) and “Bad Guy” (2023), a song about an inevitable breakup.
This year, Ponzio released a four-song EP, Reina, which is Spanish for queen. Her husband produced the aforementioned “American Smoke,” a song that recognizes the safety and liberty you believed in were far more fragile and volatile than you thought. Driving through Texas, she admitted, “I feel very surveilled these days.”
And while Minjarez helped write/compose “Reina,” friend Lalo Guzman produced it, giving the title track a slightly different, more Spanish feel by putting country songwriting over an old-school Latin beat. “’Reina‘ is my love letter to every Latina who’s ever felt like she had to shrink her story down to fit in,” said Ponzio. “I wanted a song that says the opposite: where you’re from is exactly what makes you royalty.”
The song “Graduate” is about someone who keeps living in the past. It is not based on a particular person. “It’s not about anybody from my high school. They asked, ‘What Britney are you talking about?’ I have no issue with any Britney. It’s just a way to make a fun-sounding thing,” Ponzio reported.
Blame It On The Moonlight is a song about the kind of love that feels reckless, inevitable, and impossible to explain. With the words Here I go/ Out of my comfort zone/ There ain’t no rules tonight/ Just gonna blame it on the moonlight the song resonates with many of us who have felt hopelessly in love.
Rolling Stone magazine praised Ponzio as equally “channeling Dolly Parton and Janis Joplin.” Dedicated to blending her Mexican American roots with country music’s traditions, Ponzio continues to carve out a space distinctly her own in Music City.
Valerie Ponzio is excited for 2027 as she plans to be back out touring and promoting her music.
Follow Valerie Ponzio on her website, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and all streaming services.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. Follow her blog, Instagram, and TikTok.
Reina Track List
1. Blame It on the Moonlight
2. Graduate
3. American Smoke
4. Reina
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