ALAMOSA - Longtime resident of Conejos and popular musician, Lucy Jaramillo, recently received the Hilos Culturales Lifetime Music Award, Premio Hilos Culturales 2020.

Growing up in Alamosa, Lucy began playing her guitar and singing for neighborhood friends and family, and later aired on radio (KGIW) and at special events where she was invited to perform. In her teens, she became a regular on KGIW’s Spanish language music weekly program where she showcased popular songs that included Las Mañanitas, Pajarillo Barranqueño and Buenos Diás Paloma Blanca.

She married Reyes Jaramillo of Conejos in 1940 where they farmed and raised  their eight children at the Jaramillo Ranch, located in the south banks of el Río Conejos. Lucy fondly recounted her invitations to  sing at village church fiestas in the surrounding communities of Los Lobatos, San Antonio, San Rafael, Las Mesitas, Conejos and Antonito, all the while being a member and Choir Director for 40 years at the local Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

Lucy began composing religious songs and ballads (corridos) and recorded two 45’s, Mi Virgen Guadalupana and Te Entriego Mi Corazón, at Kiva Music Studios in Santa Fe in the late 1970s. Her recording of Don Simón de Mi Vida is included in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Additionally, her music recordings are in the archive collections of the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe and the J.D. Robb Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections at the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

El Premio Hilos Culturales is awarded annually to Colorado and New Mexico folk musicians and dancers for their lifetime contributions in promoting and preserving la Música del Pasado y Bailes Sociales, decades old social art forms celebrated by familias (families) and communities in the geographical areas of the upper Río Grande region in Colorado and New Mexico, known for their folk music and dances enjoyed at fandangos and other community events.