Faces of our community: Wayne Baca reflects on bullriding and gospel

For Wayne Baca, music has always been a significant part of his life, evolving into a gift to help others.

“Because my dad died when I was seven, my mom raised me in a gospel way. That’s the only thing I know in my life. So I wanted to go out and help people,” Baca said.

He remembers while attending school in Alamo a girl in his class asked him to sing. The request prompted him to ask his older sister to buy him a guitar. At that age, however, he was more interested in country music than in gospel.

Baca was inspired by watching classic country singers such as Elvis and Conway Twitty.

“I think it was like in my ninth grade, and I can’t let go of that guitar, and I used to take it to the school. I start singing and all the girls come around, and this teacher doesn’t like it. I think she got jealous, and she took away my guitar, twice,” Baca said. “But I couldn’t stop playing, that was my passion,”

He was sent to school in Santa Fe for a brief period, during which he joined a music club and learned to play several instruments, including the guitar, drums and bass. But upon returning to the Magdalena school he shifted his focus to bullriding.

“I wanted to do something with my life. And I did, but I wanted more. So I start bullriding. I went a lot of places,” Baca said.

His bullriding career came with serious injuries and Baca has a scar and 28 screws that go down his back to prove it.

“I never won, really. I just got a lot of injuries. I’d get hurt and I’d cry. I got hurt a lot of times,” Baca said. “When I broke my back. That was the end of it. “

Baca was drawn back to music but this time he turned to his childhood upbringing of gospel. With his ability to sing in Navajo, Spanish and English he decided to start a band with his nephews Frankie Padilla and Gilford Pino.

“They were young. I taught them how to become a musician,” Baca said. “I went mostly everywhere with my band. When we went to black church, oh man, they praise God; when I went to white church, they’ll tell you the truth, what you feel, what you consume in your heart; when I went to Navajo church, they would be asking me ‘where did you come from?’ In Apache church, they won’t stop singing. They just, like, sing and sing. They sing all night.”

After all these years, it’s still hard for him to talk about his band mates.

Pino who was the bass player and backup singer in their band was tragically struck by a vehicle while walking by the road. The impact was severe, resulting in internal injuries that ultimately led to his death.

“It’s kind of hard because, you know, there’s a lot of people will come against you, because who you are, and a lot of things happened to me. I stopped singing. I quit,” Baca said.

Padilla also passed away during the COVID pandemic, and the loss devastated Baca.

“Most of all, you know, I miss my nephew, Frankie,” Baca said. “I study the Bible. And I was thinking, why not just help people? You’re not the only one that that happened to. What you are going through, there’s people like that and going through that, too.”

Since then he’s been inspired to turn his grief into an opportunity to help others and offers his music for free. He said his primary purpose in life is to serve God, no matter what challenges he faces. He wants to help people by praying for them, sharing his faith, and using his music as a way to touch people’s lives.

“I go out there and talk to them. Pray for them,” Baca said. “Maybe somebody will invite me to sing over there,”

He wants to encourage people and show them that they can overcome difficulties through faith. His core message is about love, faith, and helping others, regardless of their background or challenges.

“My name is Wayne Baca. The world knows me,” Baca said.

With a determination to continue to share his music with others Baca said he makes himself available to play where ever he is invited. He can be contacted at 575-854-3774.

Editor’s note: If you know of a community member you’d like to nominate for ‘face of our community’ feature please email jcarranza@dcheiftain.com