Texicana Entertainment: The History

The history of Texicana Entertainment has been nothing short of a miraculous unfolding over the past three years. The company originated from Jones' passion to write, record and make music that could touch and change people's lives and her belief in music as a powerful language capable of healing hearts, minds and souls.

Jones spent years of preparation in the music business, honing her craft. A native of Texas, she spent years working in the Nashville music industry, with jobs in booking, management and publicity before finding her first love and gift as a songwriter. Within a short period of time Jones found success as a writer and was signed to Sony/ATV Tree, one of the largest publishers in the world. While at Sony, her songs were recorded by major label artists Lorrie Morgan, Jon Randall and the Lynns. As Jones continued to grow as a writer, so did her desire to make an imprint as a recording artist. She felt she had a unique perspective and was drawn to the growing Texas Country music scene, which was heating up and gaining notoriety for such independent recording artists like Pat Green.

Jones began making monthly trips to Texas. In order to help fund her travel back and forth, Jones took a rehearsal tape recorded one intimate evening with friends in her living room, a picture from a photo shoot a few years back and turned it into her first album, Live From The River, on her own label she called Casa Del Rio Records.

The first 500 CDs were homemade. Jones and her husband Jason cut out each photo by hand and made the CDs themselves. Tanks of gasoline and dinner were measured by the number of CD sales at the end of each night. Stephanie's now infamous"Uncle Rudy" made tacos to pay for the band and began trying to get her booked anywhere and everywhere. He kept up with her growing fan base and as in so many great American stories rallied family and friends (her greatest resource to date) to keep the faith and help keep Stephanie's dream alive. It was a very scary time for Jones because at that time she'd sell just enough by the end of the month to make one more trip.

"Talk about learning to walk on faith," Jones said. Soon her live album was selling like hotcakes and she was garnering recognition from audiences, radio programmers and industry professionals who encouraged her to take a swing and try to become the next female rising star in a primarily male-dominated genre. She met with the folks at the Texas Music Chart-Ed & Pam Shane and Katie Key -- who informed her of the powerful coalition of radio stations across Texas and encouraged her to make her debut album.

So, in the summer of 2001, Jones and her husband made a courageous move by mortgaging their home to make what became Jones' self-titled debut album. They worked on the premise that they were going to swing for the bleachers and not look back and wonder in regret "what if." This album consists of 12 original songs written by Jones. The songs honored not only her Texas country roots but also her passion for her Mexican roots by using a 13-piece mariachi band from San Antonio on several tracks. As Jones began believing more and more in herself, so did others. One of the greatest opportunities during this time was her meeting music attorney Steven Gladstone who heard Jones' music and became a supporter. Gladstone helped Jones create a business plan for her company and advised and guided her towards success as a sharp businesswoman with soul.

The rest of 2001 was spent preparing for the release of the album, and then in July of 2002, four maverick investment capitalists and fans of Jones' stepped up to the plate and became the first partners in Texicana Entertainment. Their initial investment afforded Jones the ability to release her first single "God Loves It When We Dance" to radio stations across the state.

Jones got in her car and went on a Loretta Lynn style radio tour, visiting 65 stations and traveling over 15,000 miles in a two-month period introducing herself to and sharing her passion with listeners everywhere. One by one stations across Texas came on board and added the record. Within two months, Jones' first single was at # 4 on the chart and she was blazing a new trail on the Texas Country Music scene. During this time period Jones stayed with kind people across the state who opened their hearts, homes and refrigerators to her in order to help facilitate her dreams.

It was at one of those kind folks' homes in Plano, TX that Stephanie came upon the idea to write and record her next album, when her friends offered to buy 150 Christmas CDs at $10 a piece. Jones being busy kicking off her career reluctantly went to bed praying about the album and her ability to create it by Christmas. She woke the next morning to write the first of five original Christmas tunes within one week. More investors fell into place to help finance the project and within three weeks of that fateful suggestion from her friend "The Spirit of Christmas" album was written, recorded and for sale. Within three weeks of finishing the album, Jones had sold $10,000.00 worth of Christmas CDs and created another "Texicana" miraculous story.

In the beginning of 2003, Jones had her heart set on releasing another single but found the coffers too empty to send out the single to radio. Seemingly out of the blue, another couple came on board as partners in Texicana Entertainment. The single was shipped in February and by Cinco de Mayo (May 5, 2003), "Shakin Things Up" went to #1 on the Texas Country Music chart. Radio stations across the state rallied around Jones and took the song, which captures her spirit of determination, to the top making Texas history as the first independent female in the state to ever go #1, when it stayed for five weeks in a row.

At the beginning of 2003, Jones stated her goals for the company: secure distribution for her record label, go #1 on the Texas chart, sing with Willie Nelson and find a partner in publishing to represent her catalogue to other recording artists. By July of 2003, Jones fulfilled her vision for the company by going #1, being asked to not only sing at the "Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic" but to actually sing "Crazy" with the legend himself, and by signing a co-venture with Larga Vista Publishing (a very successful small publishing company whose writers have had written hits for George Strait, Trace Adkins and Tim McGraw).

She also inked a deal that partnered her with the independent national distributor VTone Music, Inc./Compendia/Koch Distribution roster which includes Don Williams, T. Graham Brown, The Gatlin Brothers, Gene Watson and Crystal Gayle. In addition, the roster also features new up and coming Texas music artists.

In September, she filmed her first two music videos - one for her new single "I Am Home" and "One Little Boy," a song from her Christmas album. Jones was also asked to be the grand marshall for The Ford and Texas Ford Dealers Holiday River Parade and Lighting Ceremony in San Antonio, Texas on November 28th, 2003, which was broadcast in over 40 markets to 19 million homes across the country.

As a result of the amazing year, Jones was featured on her first cover , the December issue of "Best in Texas" distributed across the state. Throughout the year writers and the media caught the excitement and Jones was featured in The San Antonio Express News, The Houston Chronicle, The Austin American Statesman, Country Weekly and Texas Music Magazine just to name a few. She shared the stage with Willie Nelson, The Mavericks, Billy Joe Shaver , Radney Foster, Robert Earl Keen, Marcia Ball , Junior Brown and represented the state of Texas at Fan Fair in Nashville , TN.One of her greatest highlights was being asked to serenade our troops abroad and in August Jones and her band made their first international tour of Japan.

As if that weren't exciting enough to top off 2003, Jones was sought out to represent San Antonio's Fernandez Honda to be the face and sound for launching their company in South Texas. Stephanie achieved one of her goals by representing the company as a bilingual, bi-cultural artist singing in English and in Spanish on radio and tv throughout the area positioning her as a valuable commodity in the ever growing world of marketing for latinos. The campaign began running in early 2004 and will continue throughout the year.

Currently Texicana Entertainment sometimes referred to as "The little company that could" has four distinct divisions in various stages of growth. 1. Casa Del Rio Records 2. Casa Del Rio Music ( Publishing)3."The Spirit of Tejas" Merchandising Line 4. performance/ concert promotion/ and sponsorship division

With an ever growing band of believers, one lawyer, one publicist, 10 partners, a #1 TX record, a duet with Willie, too many miles to remember and a few tacos later..... a feisty spicy latina-country girl with a maverick vision and a fiery heart is blazing trails and crossing every border, one border at time.

The Team
The Mission

For more information on becoming a partner, send an email to: Management@texicanaentertainment.com