Who's lonely now?

Certainly not the Grammy-winning, multi-million CD-selling vocalizing trio of brothers Henry, Jojo and Ringo Garza, better known as Los Lonely Boys.

The San Angelo, Texas-based band can count on the love of thousands of fans drawn to its rootsy melding of south-and-north-of-the-border musical styles, which they've proudly dubbed "Texican." Guitarist Henry, bassist Jojo and appropriately named drummer Ringo are also counting on soaking in some local-style love with a threeisland tour that begins in Honolulu on Thursday.

Calling from a moving tour bus somewhere in Southern California, way amiable Garza brother Henry helped compile a handful of things everyone should know about the band of brothers.

The brothers got their start as kids backing Dad on the road.

And it wasn't a matter of asking if they could join their father's cover band, or Dad cherry-picking his three sons based on their burgeoning abilities. "It was all (about) survival," Garza said about the preteen years after their parents' divorce, eking out a living playing music with their father, Enrique Garza Sr. "We moved from Texas to Tennessee (and) all over like a family of gypsies playing. To pay our bills. To eat food. To get school stuff. ... It was the way we survived together as a family."

They gave up childhood activities to learn their craft.

Cantinas, honkytonks and VFW halls substituted for playgrounds, while the boys helped their father's efforts to break into country music.

The good? "It grew us up real fast," said Garza. "We knew how to say 'no' to certain things ... and be ready for certain things (as adults)."

The bad? "Not being able to do the things you wanted when you were a kid. We missed out on all that because we were working hard to survive."

They got their name from one of their dad's songs.

With his sons standing out on their own at his shows, the senior Garza forced them to select a name hoping it would help them get serious about playing together. The boys chose a lyric from one of their dad's songs that spoke of being "just lonely, lonely boys."

The brothers' influences are their dad's influences.

No surprise, since the senior Garza schooled his sons in music with the songs he loved playing.

"He sang Beatles tunes and Ritchie Valens tunes when we were kids and we thought he wrote 'em all," said Garza, laughing. "We grew up (watching other musicians and) going, 'Hey, Dad, that guy's doing your song!'"

Playing bars on their own, the Garza brothers allowed the music styles they incorporated as a cover band — everything from Top 40, Tejano and country to Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix — to seep into the original music they wrote on the side.

That mix of familiar musical styles helped the music on the boys' debut album find heavy radio airplay on multiple formats.

The guitar-riding, spiritually poppy anthem "Heaven" and real-world-sweet ballad "More Than Love" were all over Top 40, country, rock, and adult contemporary radio in the summer and fall of 2004. "Los Lonely Boys" — the Garza brothers' self-titled debut — peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart that same year. "Heaven" won Los Lonely Boys a Grammy for best pop vocal performance by a duo or group in 2005.

"Man, we freaked out!" Garza said about the disc's success. "Even today, I'm still freaked out that it happened. ... There's a Grammy that's sitting in my house and I can't even believe to think that it's mine, you know? It's like, man, somebody's gonna come and (take it away) in a little bit."

Yes, the brothers would've liked their second album to have sold as much as their first.

With its pair of radio hits, 2004's "Los Lonely Boys" sold more than 2 million copies while hitless sophomore disc "Sacred" has yet to notch a half-million in sales since debuting at No. 2 in July 2006. But the brothers are equally proud of both.

"We never played music or did music for record sales or Grammys or for success," Garza said. "We just do it because that's what we do. ... It was about a true family trying to make it (using) the only tool that God gave them."

Los Lonely Boys have written a handful of new songs while on the road this year and will begin work on their third CD in January.

At least one of the brothers misses Los Lonely Boys' days as the little bar band that could.

"Because those are the days that brought us to where we are today," said Henry Garza. "We went through a lot of hard stuff. Personal and family experiences."

One of these was the tragic loss of Garza's first-born son to sudden infant death syndrome.

"That was a big change in my life at 18 years old. It was the same (for) the music and the family. It changed everything. It's things like that that really make us who we are — make anybody who they are.

"With music, I know we've been given that chance to try and give something back."

And Los Lonely Boys does.

The boys have raised thousands for charities and nonprofits.

Los Lonely Boys regularly support and play gratis gigs for youth- and family-focused organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, First Candle, Grandmothers of the Light and Children's Miracle Network, among others. The band recorded a cover of "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" for the all-star benefit album of John Lennon compositions "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur," released in June.

"We do that because we know that when you're given something, it's good to give back," Garza said. "That's what we were taught growing up. It just feels good in your heart, too, to know that you've made some contribution to try and help something, somewhere in this world, somehow."

Brotherly love will keep them together.

Henry, Jojo and Ringo still travel in the same bus on tour, hang out with each other's families when they're back home in San Angelo, co-write music and take on the good and bad of the music biz together.

"I think that being family and sticking together is what's kept us together," Garza said. "No one and nobody (has) got your back like your brother."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.