What is it about band of brothers? On back to back night at the Minnesota Zoo, I caught the brothers Garza (better known as Los Lonely Boys) on Friday and the Avett Brothers on Saturday. The groups were as different as lions and tigers but both had special brotherly chemistry that you just can’t create. And both thrilled their respective crowds.

Los Lonely Boys were as polished and tight as the Avetts were proudly imperfect. Guitarist Henry Garza and bassist JoJo Garza found an instant groove on every song, probably honed from hours of jamming at home as kids. (Drummer Ringo Garza would sometimes be in the pocket with them and other times play with a jazzman’s abandon.) And JoJo really knows how to swing his 5-string bass.

After establishing themselves as showy blues-rockers in the Stevie Ray Vaughan tradition, Los Lonelies have expanded their palette to a sound that is their own distinctive blend of Latin, Tex-Mex, rock, blues and pop. They did a great job of not only varying the musical textures but also varying the vocal combinations with either Henry or JoJo singing lead (or twin lead) or JoJo and Ringo singing twin lead. Plus, these Texicans know how to be tremendously entertaining and musically satisfying at the same time.

Highlights for this man: “I Am the Man to Beat,” which started out as a conversation between Henry’s guitar and JoJo’s bass and eventually built into a monstrous jam, complete with Henry’s War-evoking harmonica and Henry and JoJo jumping and stomping on the stage; and “I’m a Man,” the Spencer Davis Group classic done with raucous enthusiasm (that suggested that Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood should have tackled this number with such flair on their current tour).

On Saturday, the Avett Brothers put on a crowd-pleasing hoedown for Pitchfork.com lovers. When Seth and Scott Avett harmonized, they sounded like an unpolished and unpretty version of the Jayhawks. But these North Carolinians can’t be denied because of the way they mix emo lyrics and attitude with bluegrass, folk, pop and even punk.  Joe Kwon’s cello subbed for fiddle parts and Bob Crawford’s upright bass provided the bottom along with banjoist Scott’s kick drum.

Highlight for me: Scott’s solo acoustic guitar version of the overly emo “Murder in the City” and the punkish “Gimmeakiss.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 12:16 am and is filed under Concerts, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.