Asencio was the author of hundreds of pieces that for decades were sung and danced by Cubans without knowing who created them, except among circles of rumba musicians.
Gonzalo as a child worked as shoeshine boy, newspaper peddler, bricklayer’s assistant, and day laborer, while he studied in primary school.
during the administration of President Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948–1952), the time of the incident provoked by two drunken North American sailors who defaced the statue of José Martí.
The first of Tío Tom's guaguancós to attain popularity was Mal de yerba, in which he mixed a theme of love with the titles of the most well-known Hollywood films of the time.
A Tribute to Gonzalo Asencio, "Tío Tom" by Orlando "Puntilla" Rios y El Conjunto Todo Rumbero on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings