The state has music traditions dating back to the ancient Anasazi and Pueblo people, Navajo, Apache, and the Spanish Santa Fe de Nuevo México; these old traditions are found in both their original folk forms and as a modern folk genre known as New Mexico music.
During the 1940s, the town of Clovis was home to the Norman Petty Studios, where Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and Waylon Jennings recorded.
Modern Latin Pop musicians Lorenzo Antonio and Sparx have continued to crossover New Mexico with other popular music styles.
The largest radio market in the state, Albuquerque, has two major FM stations primarily broadcasting the genre, those being KANW and KNMM.
Contemporary performers of County and Western music residing in New Mexico include Michael Martin Murphey of Red River and Handsome Family of Albuquerque, who relocated from Chicago in 2001.The town of Ruidoso is home to the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium - now known as CowboyFest - which features music.
[14] The next international success came when a young Santa Fe and Albuquerque resident Zach Condon formed an ethno/world influenced band called Beirut.
The University of New Mexico's John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium has been and continues to be one of the central contemporary music events in the US Southwest.
The Symposium brings international composers and performers to the University of New Mexico campus for four to six long days of concerts, seminars, masterclasses, and public talks.
The numerous concerts and events are all made free to the public, making the Symposium an inclusive listening opportunity that welcomes in audiences and serves them entirely new sonic experiences, as well as showcasing the talents of UNM faculty and students, alongside national and international guest artists.
Guest composers have included Robert Ashley, Milton Babbitt, Anthony Braxton, Martin Bresnick, John Cage, Raven Chacon, Chen Yi, Michael Colgrass, George Crumb, Julio Estrada, Lukas Foss, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Karel Husa, John Harbison, Ernst Krenek, Libby Larsen, Lei Liang, John Lewis, Thea Musgrave, Pauline Oliveros, Hilda Paredes, Vincent Persichetti, Roger Reynolds, Ned Rorem, Maria Schneider, Gunther Schuller, Cecil Taylor, James Tenney, Joan Tower, Christian Wolff.