music

Even though they grew up surrounded by Tejano, it’s clear that rock ’n’ roll is in their blood. To be sure, their reunited band isn’t just some new fixation. Ready Rev was their first serious musical project after leaving their dad’s band, and it put in five years’ worth of serious gigging.

Although Ready Rev self-issued its LP Let It Out in February, the recording was completed in 2016. The brothers decided not to release it then so they could focus on The Last Bandoleros.

During its original run, Ready Rev also racked up high-profile gigs including an opening slot with Cheap Trick at the Majestic Theatre. The headliners were so impressed by the young band that they invited Diego to join them for a performance of their 1979 hit “Dream Police.”

“I cried when I got off stage,” Diego said, the emotion still apparent on his face as he recalls the show.

“I saw [Cheap Trick guitarist] Rick Nielsen later, when the Bandos opened for Sting,” he continues. “He recognized me from Ready Rev, but I don’t think he liked the Bandos as much.”

Big boots to fill

On Saturday, April 15, the Navaira brothers were back in San Antonio for a performance at the Poteet Strawberry Festival. Ahead of the gig — one where they and other musicians would take the stage as the Official Emilio Tribute — they were at a family barbecue at the home of their uncle Joe Casias, the gig’s organizer.

The house was thick with relatives. Street tacos with homemade salsa and guacamole were arrayed on the kitchen’s island. Multiple ice chests brimmed with beer. The brothers had just returned from the load-in and soundcheck.

“It was cool,” Diego said. “People started to gather around and get excited because we played a couple of songs.”

Emilio, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with his late father’s image, was excited about the kit he was using for the gig. “It’s the size of, like, Alex Van Halen’s,” he said, laughing. “Even though I only need to hit, like, three of the drums.”

As the party went on, the brothers and the other band members changed into matching bu on-up shirts patterned with Southwestern-style stripes — a signature of Emilio III’s old group. Diego slipped on cowboy boots that belonged to his dad.

Despite the jovial atmosphere and the jokes between band members, it was apparent that both brothers took the show seriously. Voluminous gigging experience aside, the apprehension wasn’t hard to read on their faces.

It was evident the two want to balance their own identities as musicians with honoring their father’s legacy. Keeping the memories alive for his fans ma ers.

“My dad always took time for people,” Emilio said, citing an important lesson he learned from his dad. “He loved his fans.”

Eventually, the time arrived for both the band and family members to pile into the small flotilla of vans that would transport them to the nearby festival.

The brothers and a few others climbed into the van driven by Ready Rev’s ever-present roadie Arnst. His Gregg Allman haircut and yellow-lensed aviator glasses exuded the vibe of a ‘70s rock star. For this occasion, he’d dressed in a cowboy hat and the same Tejano-style shirt the other guys were wearing.

“He just likes to be called Arnst,” Emilio said, when asked about his friend’s full name.

Ever the pro, Arnst ignored the backseat drivers as he maneuvered the van into the fenced-in area behind the festival’s main stage. The band piled out and joined the family members, ice chests in tow.

Fi ing since family remains at the forefront for the Navaira brothers.

“They went out of their way to do whatever they could for me,” sister Emely Navaira said, citing the Hillary Duff cover the brothers played for her at the Ready Rev reunion.

“There’s a video of me and Emilio at Christmas. I must be like 2 years old,” she added. “No one’s caring [that] it’s taking me forever to open my presents. He’s just si ing right there, trying to show off to everybody what I’m getting.”

As the band waited to go on, a Ferris wheel turned lazily in the background. The carnival’s lights and sounds only added to the jovial atmosphere.

Even so, Diego stood alone, pensive. The gravity of the performance, of his father’s legacy, still weighed on him.

“I’m afraid I’ll start crying,” he said, voicing his biggest fear for the gig.

Larger than life

To Diego’s point, the brothers’ largerthan-life father has loomed over their entire musical careers. Emilio Navaira III rose to fame as lead vocalist for David Lee Garza y Los Musicales before venturing out on his own, backed by the band Grupo Rio.

MThe Navairas’ Ready Revolution brings the rock during the band’s reunion show at 502 Bar.

By the ’90s, Navaira’s fame had eclipsed that of Garza, and he’d become one of the genre’s iconic performers — famous enough that if you u ered his first name to a Tejano fan, they knew exactly who you were talking about.

The elder Navaira even turned to Nashville and made a successful breakthrough as a country artist. His tunes appeared on commercials for the likes of Coca-Cola and Wrangler, and he landed an endorsement from Miller Lite.

Emilio III would have turned 60 last August. He died suddenly in 2016 of a massive heart a ack.

“The last words we said to each other were ‘I love you and I’ll see you later,” Diego said of his final phone call with his father. “I will see you later. That’s the positive I took from it. Later my phone rang, and Emilio told me. I remember just falling to my knees.”

By the time of his passing, Emilio III had made such a mark on Tejano that his legend is arguably second only to that of Selena. Indeed, he was billed