LOS LONELY BOYS
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In the three years since Or Music introduced Los Lonely Boys to fans around the world, everything has changed for the unique and gutsy musical hermanos from West Texas. And yet, nothing has. Sacred, Los Lonely Boys' eagerly awaited second album, both continues and expands upon the trio's self-titled debut, with its deeply personal and stunning fusion of electric blues and Texas roots, of soulful grooves and good old-fashioned rock'n'roll, of searing six-string licks and Latin beats. "New times, new songs, new rhythms," says frontman Henry Garza. "But it's still basically, Los Lonely Boys."
Of course, the reason that Los Lonely Boys sound like a band that's been together all their lives is because they have. Growing up in San Angelo, a Texas town of cowpokes, cotton and an Air Force base, Henry wrote his first song at the age of four, and all three brothers learned their chops from father Enrique, a longtime conjunto and country musician who played with his own brothers - all seven of them -- back in the day. Henry, Jo Jo and Ringo began backing their Dad officially in 1991, touring all over the roadhouses and cantinas of the Lone Star State; they also spent time with their father out in Nashville, where Enrique hoped to catch that one big break.
Then of course, there were the 2005 Grammys, where the band opened the show, won for best Pop Vocal Duo/Group and were also nominated for Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Best Rock Instrumental. Henry says they actually felt a little out of place, "but we loved that we were acknowledged. There are a lot of people that don't really get chances in this world. We really felt that all of them won that Grammy. To see brothers like us, from where we come from, and even our race, do what we do and cross boundaries like we did... I think it's really cool for people see to see a Mexican-American... an American dream come true. Anybody that knows us knows how hard we worked to get where we are today. You don't get success or get good at something without trying your best and giving it all you've got and believing in yourself."
Los Lonely Boys faced all the usual challenges a second record can present, especially since they still can't help but feeling they're a live band first. "I don't like to chisel too hard on lady music, you know what I mean?," Henry says. "I like for her to sing free, live free, do what she feels. In a studio you're trying to capture a moment in time-it's pretty rare that you can get the feeling that happens 'one night at the Fillmore.'" They also had to re-arrange songs, "My Loneliness" among them, that they'd written at home on piano for their usual guitar/bass/drums alignment, though as with the first record keyboard/organ ace Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, several hundred other country, blues and roots-rock credits) was also on board. Sacred also features a horn section on TK tracks, while "Texican Style" showcases accordionist TK, a member of from their Uncle TK's band, Los Tex Maniacs.
The same goes for "Home," which is not just Henry's opportunity to let loose with a big guitar solo and some of that "Stevie Wonder pitch-bender harmonica," but also his personal reminder of what matters most-especially when your music takes on the road 200 days a year. "If home is where your heart is," he sings, "then I never want to leave." For at the end of the day Los Lonely Boys will always be about their family - not just one they came from and the brothers that they are, but the families they've formed. Henry has three sons ("my own Lonely Boys") and a daughter, Jo Jo has two daughters and a son and Ringo has two kids. And family extends to friends as well-Los Lonely Boys now own a rebuilt/custom car business in San Angelo called the Texican Chop Shop with a childhood buddy, and it's not hard to imagine them hanging out there in the garage someday playing their guitars surrounded by grandkids. "Family and music is our life, a way of life, and that's very Sacred to us," Henry says. "You come into this world singing a song and you leave it singing a song. Music is that serious man."