The seeds for Fandango Nuevomexicano began germinating in 2021, when Susan moved to Silver City, New Mexico, and began her tutelage with Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie of Bayou Seco. Susan is the co-founder and director of Portal Irish Music Week (PIMW). Ken and Jeanie were not only extraordinary musicians, but world-renowned ambassadors of the music of New Mexico.
PIMW has carried on successfully for over 15 years, and has settled in to its new home at the Black Range Lodge. With the passing of her mentors in 2025, sustaining the music acquired new urgency. At a memorial celebration for Ken and Jeanie full of music and dance in Corrales, New Mexico, Susan met the future camp staff she didn’t know she was looking for.
Within days, she was on the phone with Rosie Hutchinson, asking her if she wanted to help co-found a camp for traditional New Mexican folk music. Rosie said, yes, and so here we are.
Join us as we grow this idea into a sustainable camp for sharing this tradition.
Bayou Seco performs Antonia Apodaca’s “Flor de Dalia” at the South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque, November 9, 2013. From left to right – Scott Mathis, Marc Robert, Jeannie McLerie, Ken Keppeler and Linda Askew.