By Kate Stow
It’s a humid Friday night at Corpus Christi’s Executive Surf Club, mere blocks from Corpus Christi Bay, and the air inside the venue hums with a palpable anticipation. A low buzz of conversation fills the room until the lights dim, and four musicians step onto the stage. At the center is guitarist and vocalist John Cortez.
With a nod to his bandmates, he strikes the opening chords, his tone sharp yet soulful, instantly commanding the room. For the next two or three hours, Cortez and company deliver a masterclass in Texas blues-rock: fierce guitar solos, gritty vocals, and the kind of raw energy that makes every listener feel the music deep in their bones.
This is the world of the John Cortez Band, and for Cortez, it’s more than a gig – it’s a mission.
Cortez’s journey began far from the Gulf Coast. Born in Bryan, Texas, in March 1974, he spent his early childhood in Arlington before his father’s Department of Defense career took the family overseas. By the time John was three, the Cortez family had moved to Okinawa, Japan, where they would remain for seven years.
It was there that young John first picked up a guitar, studying under a stern Japanese teacher who emphasized classical technique. “He was really strict,” Cortez recalls with a laugh. “He used to threaten to smash my fingers on a board if I messed up. I’m sure he was joking, but for a kid, that was terrifying.” The lessons didn’t last, and Cortez turned instead to sports, shelving music for a time.
When the family returned to Texas in the mid-1980s and settled in Corpus Christi, music began to creep back into his life. Cortez’s father, a casual guitarist and a big Led Zeppelin fan, passed down his love for rock. John still remembers the moment it all clicked: “My dad pulled out a cassette he had recorded in Okinawa, and the first song he played was Stairway to Heaven. That was it – I was hooked.”
At first, Cortez leaned heavily into rock and the glam-metal acts dominating MTV – Def Leppard, Poison, Van Halen. But at sixteen, everything changed. Driving to a baseball game, he heard Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood” on C101, the local rock station. “It just floored me,” Cortez says. “The tone, the feel – I had never heard anything like it.”
From there, he devoured everything SRV had touched, then dug deeper into Vaughan’s influences: Albert King, Freddie King, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Hendrix. He started reading guitar magazines voraciously, tracking down vinyl, and teaching himself by ear. “To this day, I don’t read music,” he says. “I play what I feel.”
After high school and a stint at North Central Texas College, Cortez spent two decades working as a Texas Health and Human Services investigator, while raising his 15-year-old twin sons, John and Michael. Music remained constant. “I never quit,” he says. “It might not have been my full-time job, but it was always who I was.”
Evenings and weekends were devoted to live gigs. Along the way, Cortez built the John Cortez Band, a flexible outfit with Dallas’s Jodi Jennings on bass, keyboardist Greg Linn from New Braunfels, and drummer Matthew Perez, along with a rotating rhythm section of stellar players, including drummers Josh Lee, Antone Perez and Arthur Saucedo, as well as bassists Arthur Galvan and BUDDY Senior Editor Chuck Flores.
The current Cortez sound is generated by his Fender Stratocasters, and his new favorite, a Tagima DW Series, named “Melinda Rose” (presented to him by his fiancée, Melinda Farias, as a birthday gift.) Driving his axes through his vintage Fender tube amps, Cortez’s sound is pure Texas blues-rock – sharp, expressive, soulful and warm. His setlists weave originals with SRV, Hendrix, Freddie King, John Lee Hooker, Santana, Zeppelin, and Texas artists Ian Moore and Chris Duarte.
“Every gig, I try to play like it’s a concert, no matter the size of the crowd,” Cortez says. That approach has taken him to stages big and small, from Port Aransas bars to the storied Sam’s Burger Joint in San Antonio. Over the years, he’s opened for Los Lonely Boys and has also played alongside Texas luminaries like Chris Duarte, Ian Moore, Tyrone Vaughan and Wes Jeans.
Cortez isn’t just a performer, he’s an organizer. As Vice President of the Coastal Bend Blues Society,
he works to rekindle the blues culture that once thrived in Corpus Christi. “There used to be real blues bars here,” he recalled. “Now, not so much. But there’s an audience, people are hungry for it. I want to give them a place.”
His dream? A standing blues jam in Aransas Pass and beyond, where young players can cut their teeth and veterans can keep the tradition strong.
Cortez points to local figures who shaped his approach: fusion guitarist Ralph “Cathouse” Davila, blues singer Reno Perez, and legendary harp player Rocky Benton, who once told him, “If it feels good, play it – don’t let anyone tell you different.” That advice has stuck ever since.
Today, Cortez balances his day job with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, a busy family life, and a packed calendar of live shows. With his fiancée, Melinda Farias cheering him on, he’s writing original material and considering recording sessions to capture his sound.
“Music is who I am,” Cortez declares. “It’s not about fame. It’s about being true to yourself and keeping the blues alive.”
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