Hopefully I'll be the first Mexican-American going into Hillbilly Heaven.

As music writer John Broven observed "Although Freddy was a Chicano from Texas marketed as a country artist much of his formative career was spent in South Louisiana; spiritually Fender's music was from the Louisiana swamps. " He also recorded his own Spanish version of Hank Williams's "Cold Cold Heart" under the title "Tu Frio Corazon". Saenz Joe Barry and Rod Bernard and issued many recordings on labels owned by Huey Meaux a Cajun who specialized in swamp pop.

He is best known for his 1975 hits "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and the subsequent remake of his own "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights".