Second albums are what songwriters agonize over. The follow up to a debut obliges them to up the ante whether they’re agile enough to or not. That ability to rise to the occasion defines Portland, Oregon songwriter Berkley’s (Andy Jones) sophomore LP Vaquero. But the songwriter wasn’t planning on having it in him.

After a short promotional tour of his debut Pueblo, and appearances on local Portland compilations, Jones was spending most of his time in his basement watching western movies and TV shows. Such was his way of processing his grief in the wake of losing his grandfather Pete Ramirez Lopez to cancer.

Sure, he was writing songs, but only as a means to work through his feelings and understand family dynamics that changed in the face of death.

Paired with a self-guided course in Mexican folk and mariachi music — the music his maternal grandparents passionately shared with him — Jones was led to interrogate his biraciality in new ways, concluding that he had never defined what it meant to and for him.