David Rodriguez (singer-songwriter)

David Roland Rodriguez (January 1, 1952 – October 26, 2015) was a folk music singer-songwriter, performer and poet.

David Roland Rodriguez was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His paternal roots lay in Mexico, and his mother's older sister, Eva Garza, recorded for Decca Records during the 1950s. At the age of two he contracted polio and as a result Rodriguez has worn a leg brace and walked with a cane ever since. Because his mobility was restricted his parents bought him a guitar. By the age of fourteen David was playing in a rock band, a year later in a folk group, and by the close of his teens was the pianist in an avant-garde ensemble.

His early musical influences included Lightnin' Hopkins, Townes Van Zandt, Lydia Mendoza, and Jerry Jeff Walker. By his early twenties, David was a law and economics graduate, based in Austin, Texas, where he spent well over the next decade playing music in Texas listening rooms, practicing law and, one time, seeking elected public office.

In 1992, 1993 and 1994, he was voted the best Texas songwriter in an Austin poll by the music magazine, Third Coast Music.

David Rodriguez decided to settle in The Netherlands in 1994 and continued to live there. On some concerts, he has been accompanied by his daughter Carrie Rodriguez on fiddle.