Over the years, there’s been the occasional Hispanic country stars Johnny Rodriquez, Freddy Fender and Emilio…but now we can add the Cerrito to that list! 

This truly dynamic, internationally known live performer adds a dash of old-fashioned romance to traditional country music, combining sounds reminiscent of Freddy Fender’s Tex-Mex music with the down-home styles of traditionalists like Merle Haggard and George Jones – while shifting effortlessly between Spanish and English.  “Blending English and Spanish in my music is instinctive to me,” declares Cerrito.  Already a star in Mexico, Honduras, Europe, the United Kingdom and Japan with hits on the charts worldwide, he has recorded duets with CMA Female Vocalist Janie Fricke and Jett Williams.  

This CD is a Latin vacation romance.  All wrapped in a little CD package.  Cerrito delivers a Latin romance at will.  The only thing that is missing is fantasy, “in the making of the record.”  Every woman’s fantasy is to have that perfect man, you know “Mr. Right.”  He has to be tall dark and handsome; with a foreign accent.  So if you don’t know the language, you’ll never understand what he is saying but, it is so sensual and sexy ‘who cares’ .. just imagine this … 

It’s just after midnight, the chill is in the air, and a crackling fire is in the fireplace that’s making shadow puppets on the walls and ceiling.  Two frosted long stem crystal wine glasses with a delicate rose etched into the sides that seem to glisten from the shimmering light.  And for the perfect touch, a bottle of lightly chilled Bordeaux with, of course, Cerrito’s CD playing in the background.  Now that fantasy is on paper, but could be a reality and an awesome memory in the making, so “Let’s Be Lonely Together”.   

What do you get when you take an Italian-American born and raised in Rhode Island in a multilingual family and him together on a country music album with female legends like Lynn Anderson, Janie Fricke, Lane Brody, and more, singing in Spanish?  You get Cerrito Duets!  Cerrito, born William Thomas Cerrito, grew up with his whole family playing and singing country music.  He tells of his grandmother singing “Your Cheating Heart” in Italian.  She and his mother listened to Hank Williams, Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline.  His older sisters, went for artists like Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn and his generation went for singers like Vince Gill and TG Sheppard.  He tells that he always came back to traditional country like Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves, though.

In his early 20’s, Cerrito decided to take his music to the road.  His travels took him to Las Vegas, Hawaii and many other places across the country.  Eventually, he landed in San Antonio, where he learned Spanish and began mixing bilingual country lyrics into his repertoire.  People fell in love with the mix.  Eventually, Cerrito brought his music to Nashville.  After a few years of country music struggling with changes in label directions, shifts in styles and such, he may have struck gold with Duets.  Cerrito has created an original and refreshing album.

All the songs on the album are bilingual duets with several “ladies of Country Music”.  Cerrito states, “It’s never been done in the history of any genre of music.  Duets is going to be a monumental album in country music.  When you hear the girls sing Spanish, you’re not going to believe it.  Most of the girls on the album I met during the course of my career; a the Academy of Country Music and, of course, the CMA’s.  I approached the girls, but the girls actually picked the songs that they wanted.”

Every song is done beautifully with traditional country instrumentation along with a Spanish flair of horns and more.  The two spoken languages, English and Spanish are blended beautifully.  What an amazing, beautifully produced album.