A familiar face takes the Mesilla stage

Jamie O’Hara has spent decades entertaining crowds across southern New Mexico — sometimes with a guitar, sometimes with a deck of cards, and often both at once.  

On June 19, the longtime Las Cruces performer will take the stage at the Mesilla Plaza Summer Music Series for the first time. 

For many residents, O’Hara may already feel familiar, even if they don’t immediately recognize the name. Over the years, generations of local families have known him as “the magic guy,” performing at schools, fairs, libraries, restaurants and community events across the region. Music, however, has always existed alongside that part of his life. 

“I started doing magic at the age of seven. I started playing music at 13,” O’Hara said. 

Originally from New York, O’Hara moved to Las Cruces in 1982 at 18 years old. His interest in music began after hearing the Grateful Dead song “Ripple” as a teenager, eventually learning guitar after his older brother taught him a few basic chords. 

“I heard something cool on an album, and I just wanted to learn how to play guitar,” he said. 

While O’Hara built a full-time career as a magician beginning in 1987, much of his musical background developed behind the scenes through church bands, rehearsals and jam sessions. Around 2011, he began performing publicly as a musician throughout Las Cruces and the surrounding region. 

Today, O’Hara performs both as a solo act and with his band, The Pizza Bones, blending original music with reinterpretations of familiar songs. He described his sound as a “bluesy, jazzy, folky, funky, rock and roll spectrum,” often incorporating guitar, mandolin, ukulele, live looping and percussion into his performances. Even after decades on stage, O’Hara said performing music still carries a sense of risk and vulnerability that keeps it meaningful. 

“When you’re playing music and things go a little wrong, everybody knows,” he said. “You try to be prepared and not let it go wrong.” 

That challenge, he said, is also part of what makes live performance rewarding. 

“It’s very meaningful to contribute to the world, to be part of the fabric of a community, and to be able to bring wonder and joy and music and song,” O’Hara said. 

Over time, the connection between O’Hara and the community has become increasingly personal. He said there are now adults hiring him to perform at their children’s birthday parties after first seeing him as kids themselves decades ago. 

“It’s really cool to have that full-circle thing happen,” he said. 

The June 19 performance will mark O’Hara’s first appearance as part of the Mesilla Summer Music Series, which regularly draws families, visitors and longtime locals to the plaza during the summer months. O’Hara said he hopes audiences leave smiling, singing along and simply enjoying the experience of live music together. 

“Playing music with other people in public, with an audience, is the coolest thing you can do,” he said. 

For O’Hara, continuing to perform in Las Cruces after more than four decades in entertainment remains something he doesn’t take for granted. 

“It’s very, very cool for me to still be able to perform for this community,” he said.