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from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on lubbockonline.com
By the time that Texas band Los Lonely Boys — brothers Henry, Jojo and Ringo Garza — arrive in Lubbock for Thursday’s eagerly awaited concert at the Panhandle-South Plains Fair, the band’s third live album, this one called “Keep on Giving,” already will be in stores.
The band had hoped to be finished with its new studio album, too; the delay could not have been predicted.
Bass player Jojo Garza’s voice sounded increasingly hoarse each time he tried to lay down vocal tracks in the studio. After the band played dates in Aspen and Boulder, Colo., Jojo decided to visit a throat specialist in Denver.
The doctor found lesions on Garza’s vocal chords.
Speaking by cell phone while on the bus. Jojo said that he endured “just a little surgery. What the doctor kept saying was that, if I wanted a career with any longevity, I needed to stop performing and just rest a while.”
Los Lonely Boys prides itself on not canceling dates, but this was serious. So 15 concert dates in North America and Europe were canceled so that Jojo could take it easy.
The rest paid off. He said that he came back stronger than ever after spending time at home.
Speaking of home, Los Lonely Boys was discovered while living in the mid-sized Texas city of San Angelo. No amount of success convinced them to move to larger markets. All three brothers have purchased homes in San Angelo — an unspoken message for potential recording artists who feel a need to move to Nashville, Los Angeles or New York City.
Jojo chuckled a bit. “Our families, our wives and children are all in San Angelo,” he said. “It’s a nice community overall. We like it.”
The brothers each picked out their instruments as small children — guitar for Henry, bass for Jojo and drums for Ringo — and were guided toward music as a profession by their father, also named Ringo Garza. In fact, he taught each child how to play their instruments, and soon the four were in a family band playing conjunto music
(read full story on lubbockonline.com)
