When musician Frankie Hernandez of Gold Hill moved to Southern Oregon from Los Angeles in 2005, he thought his career in music might be over. 

“I followed my daughter here to Southern Oregon, and I never thought I’d play music for money again,” Hernandez said. “I moved here and started to charge what I was making in L.A., and people thought I was insane.”

But after getting involved with the region’s talent-rich music scene, Hernandez found his home.

Starting with open mics around Southern Oregon, the multi-instrumentalist found his happy place among the local players, reigniting his musical career.

“I fell into playing with some local bands and made friends with Nate York,” whom he met at an open mic night hosted by York at Medford’s now-closed Osprey Brew Pub, Hernandez said.

“We all moved here around the same time in 2005, and I was blown away by amount of talent here,” Hernandez said

Originally hailing from Austin, Texas, the multi-instrumentalist has been playing music since elementary school.

“I started singing in school plays in the fifth grade and started playing trumpet in the sixth grade,” Hernandez said. 

While the music maestro enjoyed cutting his teeth as a trumpet player in middle school and high school, the six strings were beckoning.

“When I was 22, I decided I liked girls more than I liked classical music,” he said. “At 23 or 24, I started playing guitar and singing.”

“Coming from Austin, at the root of what I do is a little bit punk, a little bit Mexican and a little bit blues,” he added regarding his sound.

At age 27, Hernandez started touring as a guitar player and eventually traded Texas for sunny Los Angeles.

“I moved from Austin to Los Angeles, and that’s where I really learned to do all the things that I can do now,” Hernandez said. “I was touring with a spoken word act on the folk circuit and doing a lot of festivals and stuff.”

While in L.A., he wrote for musicians with demo deals, working with artists from Hollywood Records and Sony Music subsidiaries, Hernandez said.

In 2005, he decided to leave the City of Angels to follow his daughter to Oregon.

“After a year, the Frankie Hernandez Band started,” he added.

The guitarist and singer has been busy since, recently playing at the Pirates of the Pacific Festival in Brookings.

“We just did the Pirate music festival, which was incredible,” Hernandez said. “We also got invited to do a private party at a hotel at the beach.”

All in all, Hernandez is satisfied to continue making a living off music no matter where the stage is — as long as he’s making a genuine connection with the crowd.

“With all my heart, I love what I get to do, and I’ve gotten to do it for so long,” he said. “I make a living, I play world-class music for the people in my area, and it’s an honor to do what I do.”

Hernandez’s next performances will be at at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, at the Bigfoot Jamboree in Happy Camp, California, and at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3, for “Sunday Funday” at Apricity Vineyard, 5719 Jerome Prairie Road, Grants Pass.

To learn more about Hernandez and check out when and where his next performance is, see facebook.com/frankiehernandezmusic/events.