Album Notes

Ballad of the Ballis” is a beautiful collection of songs about the life, ancestry, and struggles of the generations of Padre Jose Nicholas Balli, which Padre Island, Texas is named after. I had met several of his descendents (Johnny, Pearl, and Emma Balli, to name a few) many years ago in my library and genealogy work, and had helped Pearl with the research of their family tree, thus learning much more of their extensive and colorful history.
I first met Leti De La Vega 20 years ago while she was writing her “Rancho Viejo” CD, about her family's ranch life on her great grandparents land on the southern border of the Rio Grande river. Understanding her interest in creating historical ballads of the families of this region where she was born and raised, I introduced her to the Balli family at a genealogy conference in Brownsville. Leti was then asked by Pearl's mother Leonor Cerda Balli, if she could write songs of their family's history too, based on the book they were writing “Trials and Tribulations – La Verdad,” about their great-great uncle, Padre Balli, and the struggles they have all endured to insure their family's birthrights.
This album is the result of their mother's request, and paints a touching picture in music.