Louie talks with Roberto Avant-Mier, Associate Professor of Communications at UTEP. Roberto has been researching the subject of tamales in popular culture, with an emphasis on music. Here on the border, we associate tamales with the holidays, but tamales have cultural roots that reach into the American South. Legendary blues musician Robert Johnson famously sang about tamales in his song "They're Red Hot," and Roberto has discovered a number of songs sung by white artists about tamales that date back to the 1890s.
Aired June 21, 2013.