ROAD WARRIOR : TISH HINOJOSA KEEPS ON ROLLING IN QUEST TO POPULARIZE HER LATIN-FOLK-COUNTRY MIX.

Byline: Elizabeth M. Cosin Daily News Staff Writer

A few years back, Tish Hinojosa was at Carly Simon's house in Martha's Vineyard to play for Jackie O. Last month, it was the White House. Somewhere in between lay dozens of small-time venues, hundreds of college concert halls and a thousand more coffeehouses and roadside holes-in-the-wall.

Such has been the long and winding musical road for Hinojosa, the singer-songwriter whose as yet incomplete journey to fame and fortune has been more circuitous than a freeway detour.

A lifelong music fan, the San Antonio, Texas, native didn't venture the 70 miles east to Austin, one of the country's hottest spots for new musicians, until after she'd moved to Nashville.Just another folk-country singer lost in the college touring circuit, Hinojosa was in her 30s when she discovered her talent for writing songs.

The first two songs she ever wrote earned her the top prize in 1988 at the famed Kerrville Folk Festival (Nanci Griffith won in '87 and Lyle Lovett in '86). But even now, after eight records in nine years, Hinojosa's blend of folk, country and Latin American music has yet to vault her into the mainstream.

The trek continues nonetheless, as Hinojosa brings her infectious Latin-flavored and folk-influenced sounds to the House of Blues in West Hollywood tonight. Another stop on a road she hopes never ends.

``It's a wonderful thing,'' she said by phone recently at a stop in Phoenix in the midst of a cross-country tour for her latest album, ``Dreaming From the Labyrinth.''

``It's a blessing for me that music really turned me on. Unbeknownst to me, along the way I became a musician.''

Hinojosa is still jazzed from her recent trip to Washington, D.C., where she was one of two performers asked by President Clinton to play for a gathering of Latin American leaders. The other was one of her musical heroes, the musician-actor and politician Ruben Blades.

That trip and the one where she played for Jackie Onassis. are in sharp contrast to the ones she takes to Mexico.

``The funny thing is, the week after the White House, we're jumping in my car and going to visit an uncle who lives in a two-room house in Mexico,'' said Hinojosa who at 40 is the mother of two children, ages 8 and 12. ``My kids, they get to see extremes of people and lifestyles that I never had a chance to when I was growing up.''

Finding room at the table as a child took some tenacity for the youngest of 13. Although music was a big part of her upbringing, she was raised in the strict environment of her parents' Mexican Catholic background, which didn't exactly encourage the education of pop musicians.

``I remember being 17 years old and playing at local coffeehouses,'' she said. ``My mother would make my older sister and brother-in-law go with me.''

Yet, while she wasn't expected to make such music her career, she also recalls her father, who would sit with her on the front porch and proudly listen to his youngest play the guitar.Much of her heritage is evident in Hinojosa's music. But while she draws from her Mexican and Tex-Mex roots, she is also a product of her generation and the music and musicians that infected it.

She grew up listening to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and others whose message was as important as their music. Later, she was able to meld it with the Latin styles she found equally inspiring.

``I remember when I first heard South American ... music,'' she said. ``It's really cool that when I got to my 30s, I was writing songs that used all those influences.

``I think what (Dylan) represented of that generation was really fascinating for me,'' she said. ``Those of us of my generation who just turned 40 ... I think for a while we have been real quiet - sort of waiting in the shadow of siblings before us who had a louder voice. I think I'm almost accepting of being one of the voices of my generation.''

It is a circumstance Hinojosa finds tinged with irony.

``There's something about opening yourself and showing your roots that demonstrates how universally alike we are,'' she said. ``I think there's connections between cultures, whether we be Japanese or Native American or Iranian or something else. I think it binds us a little closer in knowing we all have histories. I bring that out in my shows in a way to express that.

``My ancestry is Mexican, but it's not my whole picture,'' she added. ``I'm just as American. We had Thanksgiving with turkey, too. Maybe we had a bowl of salsa on the table. We were making tamales and listening to Andy Williams.''

So while she remains aware of her past, Hinojosa is always moving forward, even if it sometimes takes her a while to get there.

``I always take the long roads to wherever I go,'' she said. ``Maybe that's why I always count my blessings. I don't want to take anything for granted.''

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Photo: The youngest of 13 children from San Antonio, Texas, Tish Hinojosa has been recording her blend of folk, country and Latin American music for nine years. Her latest album is ``Dreaming From the Labyrinth.''