Such has been the case with folk musician Tim Wiedenkeller's "New Old Pueblo."
The nostalgic acoustic piece, written by Wiedenkeller five years ago, bemoans the loss of certain traditions in Tucson as the city steadily grows into a bustling metropolis.
Lines like "We don't play in the sprinklers / Stay out on summer nights / Don't have family over like we did before," accompanied by soft Latin guitar play, have been known to induce weeping with audience members at some of Wiedenkeller's regular performances around town.
"It almost feels like sacred stuff to me," says Wiedenkeller, who will release the song for the first time in limited edition this weekend at the Tucson Folk Festival.
Not unlike Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero's "Barrio Viejo," "New Old Pueblo" taps into the Tucson experience, particularly the Chicano experience, with lyrics that reference peeling nopal (prickly pear cactus pads) and throwing family fiestas.
Interestingly enough, Wiedenkeller is neither a native Tucsonan nor a Chicano. The multi-instrumentalist, with a background in bluegrass music, moved to Tucson eight years ago from Southern California.
He was inspired to write this song before he even moved to the Old Pueblo, while at a party in Arizona during a visit with friends.
"We sat around a table peeling the spines off of the nopal," Wiedenkeller said. "I immediately had a sense of place. I thought that this was the kind of thing that has been happening as long as human beings have been living in this area. After I moved here, I would call up friends and invite them over for nopal and tunas (cactus fruit), and I realized almost nobody knew what I was talking about. It was sad to see another cultural activity falling by the wayside."
Knowing he was writing out of his element about a city he barely knew, Wiedenkeller was initially wary of performing "New Old Pueblo" in public.
On the eve of the song's debut at one of his local gigs, the musician made a trip to his friend John Ronstadt's house to seek his blessing.
"I played the song for him, and he said that he hated it," Wiedenkeller recalled. "I asked him why. He said because it was all true."
Ronstadt was the first of many lifelong Tucsonans and musicians who have fallen in love with this love letter to Tucson's past, some of whom have lent their voices to the limited-edition release.
Travis Edmonson, half of the internationally known, Tucson-born folk duo Bud and Travis, plays guitar and sings on the recording.
"I am very familiar with the situation," said Edmonson, who spent most of his life in Tucson but moved to Mesa a year ago.
He added, "I had to explain what it was about to the guys up here, to live in a city that has gone through so much change. They understood."
Mark Guerrero, son of Lalo Guerrero, wasn't born in Tucson, nor did he grow up here, but he was intimately familiar with the city through his father.
Guerrero, 58, first befriended Wiedenkeller a couple of years ago through a mutual friend and loved the song from the moment he heard it.
Guerrero enjoyed it so much, he invited Wiedenkeller to perform at the Fox Theatre during the screening of his father's documentary, "Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano," last November.
The performance was greeted with a tidal wave of whistles and applause.
"It couldn't have been written any better by a Chicano," Mark Guerrero said. "It is like when John Fogerty wrote that classic hit 'Born on the Bayou' but had never even been to the bayou."
Guerrero plays guitar on the release as well as on several songs on Wiedenkeller's full-length album, "Soul House," due out later this year.
As an added treat, Guerrero sent Wiedenkeller a recording of his father reminiscing about his youth in Tucson. Lalo's memories, as well as Edmonson's, were included as part of the version of "New Old Pueblo" being released this weekend.
"It is like my dad's ghost," Mark Guerrero said. "It added poignancy and emotion to a song that is already emotional and poignant."
"It's tricky for someone like me," Wiedenkeller said. "I'm not as closely related as people who have lived here their whole lives. To actually honor those people and to have them respond to this song in such a positive way makes me feel really good."
