By Michael Swanger michael@dmcityview.com

The Los Lonely Boys play People’s Court on Friday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and $30 through IowaTix.com and at the door. Children are welcome with a parent to the non-smoking, Alive concert series show.

Los Lonely Boys write new chapter with ‘Forgiven’

Five years removed from their biggest hit single, “Heaven,” and three years after winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Duo/Group, the Los Lonely Boys have faced all the usual obstacles common to young bands that achieve fame early in their career. But with their third and perhaps most inspired studio effort, “Forgiven” (due July 1), the three Mexican-American blues-rock brothers from San Angelo, Texas, [or “Texicans”] Henry (vocals, guitars), Jo Jo (vocals, bass) and Ringo Garza (vocals, drums) meet those challenges with exuberance as evidenced by the album’s first infectious single, “Heart Won’t Tell A Lie.”

Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer and legendary drummer Steve Jordan (Keith Richards, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock), “Forgiven” sets new standards for the trio that humbly remains in tune with its musical and family roots despite commercial success, yet continues to explore new ways to tap into a higher power. Part of their ability to do that on “Forgiven,” Henry Garza told Cityview, was due to Jordan’s ability to understand the impact of the trio’s live sound and presence as he simulated the band’s on-stage setting on two sound stages to record the album. The other much larger part, as we have come to expect from such creative, genre-busting artists who rely on soul over style, is the group’s dedication to their craft and spirituality.

The following is an excerpt from my telephone interview last Wednesday with Henry Garza, from San Francisco:

HG: Before we start I want to say that our hearts and prayers are with everyone in that part of the territory. We’ve seen on TV what’s going down in Iowa, so we’ve got to bring some comfort to the souls who need it.

Thanks, that’s very kind of you. Can you tell me how you feel about “Forgiven”?

HG: It’s pretty much how the title sounds. It felt really good getting back into the studio with my brothers. We were rushed from the success of the first album going into the second album, so on this one, we let the soul breathe a little bit and I think it shows in the music because we felt it when we played it.

Tell me about its themes.

HG: It’s a number of things that are personal life experiences. The title track is a prayer. I started praying and recording a little piece of it at home. It’s about asking for forgiveness from the good Lord above. There’s a song talking about war, but not war per se, but the war of every day life and to change your ways and stop struggling. Ringo sings “Superman” and it’s about love between a man and a woman; so is “Love Don’t Care About Me,” by Jo Jo, which is really touching. The first single, “Heart Won’t Tell A Lie,” is about a guy who thinks from his heart not his mind, because when you do that you’re doing it right.

How do you know when you’ve written a good song?

HG: When it brings a tear to your eye or goose bumps to your skin. When we show it to our family and they give us good feedback it’s exciting because we know we have something worth finishing.

You come from a very musical family and grew up playing conjunto and country music in your father Enrique’s band. How important is the connection between family and music?

HG: It means everything to us. Ultimately and truly, we play for our family, and we’re so fortunate that God has given us his blessing to create music. It’s like all the hard work pays off when we share a song with our mom and she sheds a tear and knows what we’re talking about. It’s a really overwhelming good feeling. It makes you proud to be human and know you can create music for the ears and the soul. I think that’s the goal of music — to feed the human spirit and keep it strong and energetic for the future. It helps that it talks to every color and every language.

Speaking of the future, do any of your four children play music?

HG: One plays piano, the other plays drums. Some of my brothers’ kids play, too. They get it from both sides of the family. But it’s up to them to see what holds for their future because every human is responsible for their decisions. We just hope that we raise them right and set a good example for them.

How difficult was it for you and your brothers to break away from playing traditional Mexican music?

HG: We always wanted to branch out and do something different for our generation. We wanted to multi-culturalize our music with who we are naturally and mix it with rock and roll and English, because when we grew up you weren’t supposed to do any of that, you were supposed to sing traditional Mexican music. We branched out thanks to our father being our biggest inspiration. He was always the guy who played with his brothers and wanted to do different things. He dressed different, he talked different, he wrote songs different, and he passed that on to his kids.

Is that the root of your “musical burrito theory”?

HG: Yeah. It’s a funny, but simple way to explain how we do our music. We’re basically the tortilla filled with knowledge we’ve gathered from key influences like our dad to the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Valens, and then we fold it up and feed it to the world.

Scene notes

A follow-up to a story a few weeks ago: Amedeo Rossi, managing partner of the Vaudeville Mews tells us that the live music club and Coppola Properties, owners of the building that houses the Mews, have agreed to a 14-month extension on the Mews’ current lease that will run through November 2009. Rossi recently told Cityview that there was a possibility that the Mews might close or move if an agreement with the landlords was not met. “We are happy to extend the lease,” he said in a statement. “This allows us more time to evaluate options and continue to provide a broad array of local, regional and touring national acts without interruption.” … Local singer-songwriter John Burns plays the Village Bean Coffee Co., 400 E. Locust St., on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. “The idea is to give the farmers market crowd a place to go when the market closes down,” he said. He also plays there July 19. … Willie Nelson plays Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Meskwaki Casino and Bingo’s outdoor arena. Tickets are $30 and $50. … Folk music singer Peter Mayer plays Sunday at 7 p.m. at First Christian Church, 25th Street and University Avenue. Tickets are $10 at the door and through IowaTix.com. Concert proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity. Call 255-2181. CV

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