QuickTake:

Singer-songwriter Tish Hinojosa takes the stage after Ballet Folklórico Colibrí and Mariachi del Sol. Admission is free with donations requested for Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste. 

Tish Hinojosa has long supported farm worker rights. 

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Hinojosa’s aunt and cousins were farm workers in California.  

“I understand the plight, and I’ve always understood the struggle,” Hinojosa told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. 

The singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas, performs a benefit concert for Oregon’s farm workers union Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Wildish Theater, 630 Main St. in Springfield. 

Admission is free to “A Night in Solidarity with Farm Worker Rights,” with donations requested for Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste. Based in Woodburn, the union represents and advocates for Oregon farmworkers and working Latinx families. 

Doors open at 5 p.m. for a reception with union President Reyna Lopez. Community dance group Ballet Folklórico Colibrí performs at 6 p.m., followed by Mariachi del Sol, Springfield High School’s mariachi band at 6:30 p.m.

Hinojosa and fellow musician Marvin Dykhuis take the stage at 7 p.m.

The concert coincides with an exhibit at Springfield History Museum titled “Farm Labor in the Valley,” which was developed in collaboration with Eugene Friends of the Farmworkers. 

Hinojosa describes her music as “pop, Southwest, singer-songwriter, Latino, world music,” which she sings in English and Spanish. The 70-year-old has released 17 records during her decades-long career. She toured internationally, teaming up with artists such as Joan Baez, and performed at the White House during the Clinton administration.

She said her music has always been about her being an American kid growing up in San Antonio, Texas, with pop music and Mexican music. 

“With my family being Mexican American and my parents being from Mexico, I was always very connected to border issues, and so, yes, issues like immigration and border issues have always been very important to me,” Hinojosa said. 

When she started getting record deals in the 1980s, Hinojosa told the companies she was working with that, “I don’t just want to be a pop singer.” 

“I want to make sure that I can speak for issues that I feel are important to me,” she said. 

Her song “Something in the Rain” is about farm workers and “Donde Voy,” which was covered by Linda Ronstadt in the 1990s, is about an immigrant’s journey crossing the border. 

If you go

  • What: A Night in Solidarity with Farm Worker Rights 
  • Where: Wildish Theater, 630 Main St. in Springfield
  • When: 5 p.m. reception with union president; 6 p.m. Folklórico Colibrí; 6:30 p.m. Mariachi del Sol; 7 p.m. Tish Hinojosa with Marvin Dykhuis
  • Cost: Free admission with donations for Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste