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Johnny Rodriguez, who became the first Mexican American country music star with a string of hits, died on Friday. He was 73.<\/p>\n
His daughter, Aubry Rodriguez, announced his death on social media<\/a> on Saturday. The post did not cite a cause of death.<\/p>\n Mr. Rodriguez rose to fame in the 1970s and was best known for the hits \u201cRidin\u2019 My Thumb to Mexico\u201d and \u201cYou Always Come Back (to Hurting Me).\u201d He released six singles that reached No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot Country Songs chart, and nine others reached the Top 10.<\/p>\n In 2007, Mr. Rodriguez was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame<\/a>, which described him as the \u201cgreatest and most memorable Chicano Country singer of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Juan Raoul Davis Rodriguez was born on Dec. 10, 1951, in Sabinal, Texas, around 65 miles west of San Antonio. A list of survivors was not immediately available.<\/p>\n Mr. Rodriguez, the second youngest of 10 children, started playing guitar at the age of 7 when his older brother, Andres, bought him one. Their father died of cancer when Mr. Rodriguez was 16, around the same time Mr. Rodriguez formed a band, and Andres died the next year.<\/p>\n The losses sent Mr. Rodriguez \u201cspiraling,\u201d according to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Mr. Rodriguez had spent time in jail by the time he was 18 for what is said to be an unpaid fine. He would pass time in the cell by singing and was overheard by Joaquin Jackson, a Texas Ranger, who eventually helped find Mr. Rodriguez a job as a singer and stagecoach driver at the Alamo Village, then a popular tourist attraction<\/a> in Texas.<\/p>\n The country musicians Tom T. Hall<\/a> and Bobby Bare<\/a> heard Mr. Rodriguez performing at the Alamo in 1971 and invited him to Nashville. Mr. Rodriguez, then 20, brought just his guitar and $14. Shortly after his arrival, he became a lead guitarist in Mr. Hall\u2019s band.<\/p>\n In 1973, Mr. Rodriguez released his debut single and first Top 10 single, \u201cPass Me By (If You\u2019re Only Passing Through).\u201d His next three singles \u2014 \u201cYou Always Come Back (to Hurting Me),\u201d \u201cRidin\u2019 My Thumb to Mexico\u201d and \u201cThat\u2019s the Way Love Goes\u201d \u2014 all topped the chart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He was also nominated for the Country Music Association\u2019s male vocalist of the year award in 1973 and won the Billboard Trend Setter Award for first Mexican American to capture a national audience.<\/p>\n In 1979, Mr. Rodriguez parted ways with his record label, Mercury, and signed with Epic. Three more of his songs \u2014 \u201cDown on the Rio Grande,\u201d \u201cFoolin\u2019\u201d and \u201cHow Could I Love Her So Much\u201d \u2014 later reached the Top 10. He continued making music into the 1990s.<\/p>\n