The Guadalajara Reporter

Lake Chapala native’s music dreams coming true in America

A lakeside native who raised his family in Sacramento, California is realizing his dreams of sharing his Mexican ballads with the world.

Alfredo Gonzalez was born in Tuxcueca on the south side of Lake Chapala and started penning romantic verses as a child. At the time, he had no idea his future wife lived just a boat-ride across the lake in Chapala.

His family later moved to Guadalajara and then on to California in the late 1950s as Gonzalez’s father went to work as a manual laborer during the bracero program.

All the while, Gonzalez continued writing his verses, at times on small notes and napkins. He met his wife at ESL, or English as a Second Language, classes in Sacramento, when he heard her talking about the lake they both grew up alongside as children, his daughter Maria Watts said.

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