Music wasn’t Manny Trevino’s initial love growing up in Amarillo and Flower Mound. Back then, sports were more his passion, especially football and track.
But with parents Mary and Manuel always performing in church and older brother Stephen a piano genius, the sounds were imbedded in him.
“I didn’t get all the formal training my brother did, but he taught me at home,” he said. “Music was my brother and my sister (Tricia). They were both musically inclined. They both went to (University of) North Texas to study it. She was in the jazz choir and my brother played many instruments. I’m not the musician he is. I guess I’m definitely fooling people.”
Judging from the crowds who listen to the now 47-year-old Lantana resident, he’s clearly entertaining them. He can be found close by in places like Marty B’s and the Lakeside Music Series or farther away in The Colony, Royce City, Frisco, and beyond.
In addition to solo performances, Trevino is part of two groups. One is Turnpike Tribute, which honors Texas red dirt country band Turnpike Troubadours.
“This area is one of the biggest in the country for cover music and tribute music,” Trevino said. “We take pride in that we believe we are the first Texas country red dirt tribute band out there.”
So successful was Turnpike Tribute that Trevino started another band last summer called The Texas Red Dirt Experience, which performed Nov. 16 at Marty B’s sixth anniversary celebration. In addition to singing, Trevino plays bass guitar and harmonica.
What separates red dirt from typical country music?
“The main difference is red dirt musicians typically write their own music,” Trevino said. “The Nashville singers don’t write their own music. Nashville is ‘I want to sell. I want to sell.’ Red dirt is more about song writing and the lyrics.”
Having the two groups with 5-6 musicians each allows Trevino and his bandmates the versatility to play at virtually any sized venue. It also allows him to play with fellow musicians who have performed with more famous acts.
Trevino moved to Flower Mound his freshman year in high school and graduated from Marcus High School in 1995. His brother was a senior and Tricia a junior. They also have an older sister, Elizabeth, who teaches at Highland Village’s McAuliffe Elementary School and lives in Argyle.
“I always played just for fun,” he said. “We had a band (Little Texas before the current band existed) when I was about 6 years old playing the bass. My brother would play the keyboard, my older sister the drums and my dad the guitar behind the curtain. We did some shows for high schools and traveled to Colorado.”
He played for fun until he transferred to UNT after a year at Texas-Arlington. His original dream was to be an architect, but missing football more than architecture he moved to the Denton school where he was a wide receiver. In track, he specialized in the 100- and 200-meter dashes plus 400 meter relay and long jump.
Knowing he wasn’t good enough for the pros in either sport, he considered a career in coaching. After earning a social studies degree, he started on that path teaching physical education and world geography and coaching at Marcus. Within two years he realized he needed to do something else.
At one point he had picked up someone’s guitar and thought it was cool. Then, thanks to a friend of a friend who was a restaurant bar manager, he was able to sing songs and make some good tip money.
“From then I figured out I could talk to local places and see if I can play,” he said. “And that kind of started it.”
Soon thereafter, he started writing music which impressed a small studio (Pearl Snap Records) and management firm (Dark Horse Management).
“I did my first CD (in 2004) by myself under the band name Aschere,” he said. “It was like five songs and after that, people took me into a real studio and took the “e” off my name.”
For a while, he toured in places like California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. More recently, he has played primarily in North Texas while serving as a workout trainer for Camp Gladiator.
“My two passions are music and coaching and there I get to coach without teaching,” he said. “I have my hand in training and fitness.”
In true “the show must go on” mentality, Trevino insisted on performing Sept. 8 at the Lakeside Music Series in Flower Mound despite an offer to cancel due to the intense heat and impending storms.
“I told them when I am in Flower Mound most of my audience are CG folks,” he said. “These people are used to being outside and don’t care. They were kind enough to let me do it. I got about halfway done, maybe more.”
Like so many other musicians, Trevino has released a handful of songs on Spotify rather than a full CD.
“I was heavy on the CG thing, but I told my wife ‘this music thing with the Troubadour Tribute if I spent some time on that, six months, eight months down the road, we’ll see some income coming from that to where I don’t have to do the early mornings with CG,’” he said. “Now I only do Monday and Wednesday evenings at Marcus. And honestly, it’s a lot more fun.
“I have found a better balance between the two. My kids often get to see me.”
He and wife Paige have children ages 2 and 5 together plus her 12-year-old daughter. She works in the financial sector of the pharmaceutical industry. His older brother Stephen, who lives in Argyle, has continued his musical prowess as part of the Journey tribute band Infinite Journey.
“That’s where I actually got the idea to do the tribute to Turnpike Troubadours because he was playing with an 80’s band before and when he got hired on with Infinite Journey, he would tell me how much money he made,” Trevino said. “Once he told me how much he was making, I said ‘I could do all the Turnpike songs and they weren’t together. Let me try doing this.’ Now, it’s all coming together.”
