Community Corner
Los Lonely Boys
Hailing
from San Angelo, TX, Los Lonely Boys are a sibling trio whose music
draws equally from Rock, Blues, Tex-Mex, Conjunto, and Tejano.
Such a combination is shaped by the band’s three brothers: guitarist
Henry Garza, bassist JoJo Garza, and drummer Ringo Garza, Jr. The
siblings’ father, Ringo Garza, Sr., was a member of another sibling
band, the Falcones, who played conjunto music around Texas during the
’70s and ’80s. After that group broke up, Garza went solo, backed by his
three sons even before they reached their teens. The family relocated
to Nashville in the 1990s, and gradually the sons emerged as a group
separate from their father.
After moving back to Texas, the boys recorded their debut album,
2003′s Los Lonely Boys, at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales studio in Austin
with Nelson sitting in. Epic Records picked the album up for major-label
distribution in March 2004, resulting in a high chart placement for the
album’s lead single, “Heaven,” as well as a Grammy Award for Best Pop
Performance the following year. The Boys released their eagerly awaited
sophomore album, Sacred, in 2006, and Forgiven followed in 2008. A
holiday album, Christmas Spirit, also appeared in 2008, and the band hit
the road for an acoustic tour one year later, punctuated by the release
of the covers-only 1969 EP. They released their last recording for
Epic, Spirit of Christmas, in 2008.
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Though touring nearly constantly, the trio has stayed deeply rooted
to community causes. They recorded the single “Solid Ground,” about the
Family Justice Center of Erie County (which won the Austin-based CTK
Foundation’s Heart and Soul grant for 2009). The FJC provides services
for victims of domestic violence. Written with poet Nancy Ghoston,
“Solid Ground” was released in January of 2010.
During touring in the spring of 2010, JoJo Garza developed vocal
problems. Physicians discovered lesions on his vocal cords and
recommended that he rest them, causing the band to cancel its April and
May appearances in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. This also pushed back
the release of their debut independent offering, Keep on Giving:
Acoustic Live!, their first release on the Lonelytone/Playing in Traffic
imprints; the album was eventually issued in the fall of 2010. Los
Lonely Boys returned with their first new studio offering of all
original material in three years with 2011′s Rockpango (a made-up
Spanish word that the band translates to English as “rock party”). ~
William Ruhlmann & Thom Jurek, Rovi