Remijio “Primo” Carrasco was born along the Rio Grande near Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico. As a youth, he attended school sporadically and worked the family farm. Following the death of his father in a car accident, he began singing and playing guitar as a teenager in the 1960’s. Evenings were spent playing music with other young men on the hillside along the river. At first, Primo sang backup, but was soon encouraged to sing lead, as the other singers liked his voice. He also began observing the finger positioning of his friends who played guitar, eventually learning enough chords to accompany himself while singing.

In the late 1960’s, Primo moved to Texas, initially working cattle at the Casner Ranch between Fort Stockton and Alpine. Later, he moved to Fort Worth to work with a relative doing asphalt work. He soon found a better job making boots at the famous M.L. Leddy Boot company and was there from 1969-1971. During this period, he met and married Ana, the love of his life, also from Ojinaga. She moved with him to Fort Worth where Primo worked days and nights to support the family, which now included his daughter Anna Luisa.

In September 1971, Primo found work with the Southern Pacific railroad through his brother in law. After a few years, Primo and his wife were able to move closer to their extended family and made a permanent home in Marfa. By 1978, with a family of four children, Primo’s musical performances were mostly limited to the home, where he would play guitar and sing with Ana. He was soon asked to perform at the local Catholic Church. It was there that he met some of Marfa’s other musical talent, including Felipe Cordero, Gilberto Rodriguez, Roy Catano and Rito Rivera.

Primo continued to work for Southern Pacific and then Union Pacific, commuting to work along his territory on the SP line (El Paso to Sealy, Texas) during weekdays and coming home each and every weekend to be with his family. During this time, Primo was collecting the words to songs he had heard other people sing, both in person and on the radio, and often would play and practice them at home in the casita behind the main house in Marfa.

Primo retired from the railroad in 2004 and was finally able to settle into a full-time life at home with Ana in Marfa. Around this point in time, he started to play more with his local musical companions, still keeping up his performances at the church. Several high profile shows at the Marfa Lights Festival exposed the public to Primo’s music and style.

In 2012, Primo was asked by Freedom Records A&R rep to come play a series of solo shows at Padre’s, the local live music and food venue managed by David Beebe. These shows were happy hour sets and featured Primo solo, marking the first time he had ever performed solo shows live. Within a couple of months, bassist and singer David Beebe asked if he could accompany Primo for these increasingly popular Wednesday happy hour sets, and a partnership was formed.

Since those days at Padre’s, Primo y Beebe have played numerous venues and shows of all types, all around the Trans-Pecos area of West Texas. The music of the border transcends age and ethnic differences along the borderlands, and the duo is known for their long shows and getting people on the dance floor, even without the volume level and intensity of a full backing band.

Primo Carrasco wants everyone to enjoy the music and, for himself, he wants to continue making music and making people happy with the music. Viva la musica!

Growing up in Houston, David Beebe started playing in bands in middle school as a keyboardist and singer. By the early 1990’s, while attending the University of Texas at Austin, he was regularly playing rock and roll in multiple bands and writing original music.

At the time he graduated from college, he was singing lead and playing harmonica in two popular bands, the acoustic ten piece original act “The Schlitz Quarts” and rock and rollers “Banana Blender Surprise.” Banana Blender released three full length original records and toured for several years before members disbanded.

In 1996, Beebe stopped touring and settled into being the general manager of Houston’s most popular rock club, The Satellite Lounge. While there, he joined the Allen Oldies Band as drummer and founded The El Orbits, a “mellow lounge trio” specializing in swing music and pop standards. Beebe quit the bar business in 1998 and took The El Orbits full-time. The El Orbits played extensively in Texas and beyond and released four full-length CDs, mostly covering classic American songbook numbers but with some Gulf Coast rock and roll mixed in. In 2000, Beebe joined some friends in building and opening The Continental Club in Houston. The El Orbits became the Monday night house band at the Houston Continental location and the Thursday happy hour house band at the Austin Continental for many years. By the height of the group’s popularity in 2002, The El Orbits were playing over 300 shows per year.

By the end of 2003, Beebe had moved from singing lead and playing drums to singing lead and playing bass guitar in the group. By late 2005, Beebe’s singing voice had experienced severe wear and tear from performing so extensively. In 2006, he changed careers and relocated to Marfa, Texas to build a small-town food and music venue loosely based ono the Continental Clubs. After extensively rebuilding the historic structure, Beebe opened Padre’s in March of 2009 and initially focused on presenting musical acts and cooking in the kitchen for the next several years.

In 2012, Primo Carrasco began playing a regular show on Wednesday evenings at Padre’s and Beebe asked to join him onstage on bass. A partnership was formed and the Wednesday evening crowds got bigger and bigger. Beebe left Padre’s in the summer of 2012, but eight years later, Primo and Beebe are still going strong, playing all kinds of events in and around West Texas.

In 2014, after six years on Marfa City Council, Beebe was elected to serve as Presidio County Justice of the Peace, a position he holds to this day. Primo and Beebe play as often as they can, with few rehearsals but an extensive song list of classic Texas border tunes.

Beebe and Primo both host weekly radio shows on Marfa Public Radio. Beebe’s Tuesday night show “The Night Train Express” has been running since 2008 and showcases Southern Soul and R&B classics. Primo’s show is classic Texas/Mexican border music all the way, and the new “Primo y Beebe” CD is an example of that musical format.

Beebe’s future musical plans include extending his knowledge of traditional Mexican music and improving his Bajo Quinto playing, as well as pivoting back towards writing more original music for Primo y Beebe and other projects.