Little Joe

Career Little Joe is of Mexican descent. Hernández told the Stockton Record in 2015 that he was born "in a three-wall, dirt-floor garage on a cold stormy night," the seventh of 13 children. His father, Salvador, was known as "La Cotorra" (the parakeet) and was a troubadour. His mother, Amelia DeLeon, was a trained pianist. "My dad and aunts all played instruments and sang," he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise (Nov. 18, 2015). "We'd go to parties that would last until three in the morning."

Hernández got his start at 13 when his cousin, David Coronado, recruited him to play guitar for his Latinaires. The Latinaires eventually became known as Little Joe and the Latinaires. Today he is usually joined by his band La Familia.

The Temple Independent School District awarded him with the school district's first ever honorary high school diploma in October 2022. Little Joe had to leave school after 7th grade for migrant work, and all of his education after that was gained through experience. "He wasn't able to finish school because he had to go pick cotton, and literally, drive his family around at 12-13 years old", said his son, Isaac Hernandez, who is also the assistant principal at Temple High School.

Awards and honors Hernandez is a recipient of a 2023 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

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