Bacas of Fayetteville

The first Baca Family Band—a Czech musical group—was formed in 1892 in Fayetteville, Texas, by Frank J. Baca. Baca was the son of Joseph Baca, who had emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Galveston in 1860. Frank displayed an amazing musical talent as a child and taught himself to play clarinet, alto sax, and slide trombone before formally studying music. He married Marie Kovar in 1881, and they settled at Fayetteville, Texas. They had thirteen children. Frank was a member of the Fayetteville city band and a member of an informal family band before he officially formed the first Baca Band. These groups performed traditional Czech polka and waltz music. In addition to attracting the talents of all thirteen of Frank Baca's children, the Baca Family Band drew participants from around Central Texas. Upon Frank's death in 1907, his son Joe, who had won local and national cornet competitions, assumed leadership of the band. Demand for the group throughout the area as entertainment for festivals and special events increased. Among the most noteworthy of their appearances was the band's participation in an enormous celebration at the Fayetteville SPJST (Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas) at the end of World War I.

In 1920 Joe Baca died, and his brother John assumed leadership of the band. Under John, the Baca Band played on Houston radio station KPRC in 1926 and 1927 and made phonograph recordings on the OKeh, Columbia, and Brunswick labels during the 1930s. The John Baca Band continued until John's death in 1952. Around 1932 John's brother Ray started his own band—thus resulting in the existence of two Baca family bands carrying on the legacy of Frank Baca.

Although the original Baca Band had already made plans for a national tour in 1906 (canceled by the death of Frank Baca), the band did not make its first out-of-state appearance until 1967, when Gil Baca, son of Ray, performed with his band at the Smithsonian Institution's American Folklife Festival. The Gil Baca Band toured Czechoslovakia in 1972 and also performed at the United States Bicentennial Celebration in Washington, D.C., in 1976. The Texas Polka Music Association bestowed Lifetime Achievement Awards on John Baca in 1991 and Ray Baca in 1997. John Baca's son and drummer, Clarence, who had joined his father's band in 1933, formed his own band in 1962 and continued to play until 1998. Ray Baca's son Gil continued to perform until his death in 2008. The Bacas of Fayetteville remain the state's best-known family Czech folk band in Texas. Band memorabilia is on display in the Fayetteville Area Heritage Museum.