The corridos tumbados star performed with the late singer’s band Los Plebes del Rancho for the album
Natanael Cano is celebrating the legacy of his greatest inspiration, Ariel Camacho. On Friday, the corridos tumbados pioneer released the album Recordando a Ariel Camacho, featuring 10 covers of Camacho’s songs recorded alongside his band, Los Plebes del Norte.
The Mexican musician recorded the album while performing live with Los Plebes at a palenque in Guadalajara, playing songs Camacho classics such as “El Toro Encartado,” “Hablemos,” “El Karma,” and “El Rey de Corazones.” The project even features banter between Cano and the audience in between tracks.
Last year, Cano starred in a Prime Video documentary, Gen Mex, where he spoke extensively about the legacy of Camacho, who died in 2015 in a tragic car accident at the age of 22. “Ariel Camacho inspired me and so many others,” Cano said at the time. “He’s the only person I’ve ever cried for in my life. It always makes me cry… I admired him, and I still admire him. I never got to meet him.” In August, he also performed “El Toro Encartado” alongside Floyd Mayweather Jr. during a boxing match in Mexico City.
Back in 2022, Cano also appeared on a Mexican show to discuss Camacho’s legacy. “Only when you die do they value you. He was so important,” Cano said then, before pausing to hold in his tears. “I know all of his songs. I can’t do this anymore.”
Camacho, who invigorated corridos in the early 2010s, has long been cited by Eslabón Armado, Peso Pluma, and other música mexicana artists as a pillar of the genre and a key inspiration. Last year, Peso Pluma’s songwriter Jasiel Nuñez told Rolling Stone that it was Camacho’s death that pushed him to take music seriously. “I wanted to be like him,” Nuñez said. “He is the reason why I’m here.”
