Driving north on U.S. Route 550 from Albuquerque to San Ysidro, New Mexico one sees magnificent mesas, majestic mountains, ancient Pueblos, and beautiful geography. No wonder the route is called the Million Dollar Highway once it hits Colorado.
Normally one is not inclined to stop in the Village of San Ysidro. Maybe for gas or to turn on New Mexico State Road 4 towards the stunning Jemez Pueblo, Bandelier National Monument, or the city of Los Alamos.
But there is now a good reason to stop: the Southwest Cigar Box Guitar Festival.
Working in conjunction with San Isidro Vineyards, the Southwest Cigar Box Guitar Festival is the brainchild of Del Puckett, a retired Intel employee, luthier, and musician. With his wife Louise, the couple purchased a home then began to establish themselves in this community of roughly 200 inhabitants.
Del Puckett holding one of his cigar box guitars at San Isidro Vineyards | Provided
Sitting at the junction towards the Jemez mountains, the village began as a farming community in 1699. Named after the devout farmer, Saint Isadore, San Ysidro was incorporated as a village in 1967.
Arriving at 9:00 in the morning, I met Puckett at the San Isidro Vineyards. As he gave my brother and I a tour of the property, he kept introducing us to various attendees: a couple from Herford, Texas, another from Oklahoma, then Minnesota, Arizonia, and Canada. I was amazed at how far people travel to attend the festival.
“I met most of the people due to my You Tube channel, which has a few thousand subscribers,” Puckett states modestly. “Honestly, they are the salt of the earth. I love them all.”
View from the Southwest Cigar Box Festival | Provided
I meet Jim Totten from Texas who began watching Puckett’s cigar box videos, becoming a player and supporter of the festival. Then Tom from Oklahoma who gives Puckett credit for his interest in the instrument.
After the tour, Puckett introduces me to the vendors at the festival: Jason of Cozy Mountain Coffee, a Jemez Pueblo family serving food, and Talty Robertson, representing New Mexico Designs out of Jemez Springs.
It was like a family affair.
I got a deep sense of how important Puckett is to the broader cigar box guitar family when talking with Kelly Rickeson of Durango, Colorado. She told me that after her husband, Mark, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease he became very depressed. Mark started to watch Puckett’s videos on You Tube and began to follow Puckett’s updates. Along with Kelly, they attended the first festival last year.
“Mark’s life was changed,” Kelly tells me. “He’s become a better man. Life changes through the music.”
Meeting Jeff Patterson of Green Valley, Arizona was a treat. As a police officer turned ceramicist, turned luthier, Patterson is co-organizer of the festival. Through Puckett, he was introduced to the world cigar boxes. As we talked, Puckett played one of Patterson’s guitars on stage. The sound was amazing, warm and matured. Puckett played Beethoven followed by Vince Guaraldi’s theme for Peanuts.
Jeff Patterson standing in front of a home from the 1800's holding his cigar box guitar | Provided
Running the You Tube channel It’s Clear As Mud, Patterson is an engaging and inviting person. I ask him what drew him to cigar box guitars. “Puckett. He’s hard not to like.” After telling me about how he crafts his cigar box guitars, he turns to his other artistic outlet—pottery.
It just so happened that during our conversation I was awarded—from a regular giveaway— one of Patterson’s creations, a ceramic guitar slide, with, as one would expect, cigar box guitars painted on it. It was a wonderful gift.
Del Puckett standing in his cigar box guitar shop in San Ysidro, N.M. | Provided
When you add a wine-tasting room, live performances, art by watercolorist Shealeen Louise Bishop, cigar box swag, striking scenery, an evening bonfire, and some of the kindest people you’d ever meet, the Southwest Cigar Box Guitar Festival should become of one New Mexico’s valued, unique festivals, an enchanting taste of New Mexico life and culture.
For more information, go to https://www.sanisidorevineyards.com/events and https://www.delpuckettcbg.com.
Brian C. Nixon, Ph.D., is Chief Academic Officer and professor at Veritas International University in Albuquerque. As a writer, musician, and artist, his interests surround the philosophical transcendentals: truth, beauty, and goodness. You can contact Brian via his Bandcamp email address: https://briancharlesnixon.bandcamp.com
