LOS LONELY AT THE TOP BROTHERLY BAND JUST MIGHT GET SOME GRAMMY GOLD.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

Sibling harmony, not rivalry, is at the heart of Los Lonely Boys, the Grammy Award-nominated brother act making history on the pop charts.

It's a familia story - relatives that perform together somehow often make the best music. There's just a certain something extra in the Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers or the Marx Brothers, for that matter, to name a few cases.

Los Lonely Boys are the three Garza brothers: Henry on guitar, JoJo on bass, Ringo on drums. And like the aforementioned groups, the Tex-Mex trio has made music together since they were about as tall as a Fender Stratocaster. Now, after a decade of work, the Garzas are seeing adult-portion results.

Combining elements of Tex-Mex, country, blues and rock pioneers like Ritchie Valens, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino, plus the ever-present Beatles, the Boys layer on Stevie Ray Vaughan-inspired guitar, Santana- tinged Latin-rock rhythms and glorious three-part vocal harmonies.

That style fuels the band's biggest hit, the irresistibly mellow ``Heaven.'' The power ballad, up for two of the ensemble's four Grammy nominations Sunday, got nods for record of the year and best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal. Hailing from the tiny West Texas town of San Angelo, the trio is also in the running for best new artist and best rock instrumental performance for the nine-minute, largely instrumental epic ``Onda'' at the 47th annual Grammy ceremony at Staples Center. (The Boys will perform on the telecast.)

``It's almost like we're the Mexican Beatles or something,'' a still- thrilled Henry Garza said. ``People ask how we came up with our sound. I have a music burrito theory - we've made our own tortilla, right, with all the knowledge of the greats out there. We put 'em inside the tortilla, fold it up, make our own burrito, and now we're sellin' it to the world.''

The world's buying. Los Lonely Boys just set a record on the adult contemporary chart, where ``Heaven'' has been No. 1 for one week shy of four months. It's the longest run at the top for a debut chart entry since Billboard began tallying the genre. The Boys' self-titled debut album, recorded at Willie Nelson's studio near Austin with Nelson himself sitting in, has sold more than a million copies from the time Epic Records picked it up for distribution last March.

``The Garzas do two things really well - the Texas blues-rock thing with blazing solos and hints of Santana, and when they do it, they can break out into long jams,'' said music writer Richard Skanse, who penned the cover story on the Boys in the winter issue of Texas Music, a glossy quarterly magazine. ``And they do these secretary ballads like 'Heaven' and (the new single) 'More Than Love,' which you can easily imagine hearing in any office or Supercuts. The band has a very well-executed adult contemporary sound, which draws from their background, just like their rock stuff does.''

The Garzas' early days give a clearer picture of how they developed. Their father, Ringo Garza Sr., was also a member of a band made up of his brothers. Called the Falcones, the group played polka-tinged conjunto music around Texas in the '70s and '80s. When the band ended, dad went solo, backed by his three sons before they'd reached their teens.

The lads first learned to play Tejano, a mix of country, r&b and Latin styles, but the elder Garza wanted to be a Waylon Jennings-style outlaw- country crooner. The family was hauled to Nashville, with Henry, JoJo and Ringo playing the homemade back line for dad's musical dreams.

``We basically spent the '90s in Nashville,'' says Henry, who, like his brothers, is in his 20s. ``At first we played for my dad, but then we started writing songs and playing our way. We did our first gig as a trio in Atlanta, and that's when we decided to come back to Texas and try and do our own thing.''

At first, audiences weren't sure how to take the Boys' ``Texican'' rock 'n' roll. ``People would say, 'You don't sound like a Mexican band,' '' Henry recalled. ``We can do that stuff, yeah, but we wanted to do something that was more us.''

The ``more us'' part is what sells records, and on stage, where it counts, the Boys impress. ``They've got musical chops and personality,'' Skanse marvels. ``I've seen them get around a single microphone and do perfect a cappella harmonies. And as people, I never got the sense they wanted to be rich and famous. They still live in this small town and are very close to each other and their families.''

Los Lonely Boys' brotherly love also plays well to one of their musical idols, Carlos Santana. At the Latin Grammys in September, the Mexican rock guitar hero called on the trio to perform ``La Bamba'' as part of a tribute to the late Mexican rocker Valens. When Santana - whose own guitar-playing brother Jorge fronted the underrated Chicano rock outfit Malo in the '70s - was asked about the Boys, he sounded like one of the fans: ``They're brothers. So, it's familia, it's tight, and I love it.''

He's not alone.

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

47th ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

What: Kanye West, up for 10 trophies, performs with hip-hop newcomer John Legend, r&b great Mavis Staples and fellow nominees the Blind Boys of Alabama. Also, Bonnie Raitt and Billy Preston sing in honor of Ray Charles. And Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Gretchen Wilson, some Skynyrds of the Lynyrd variety, and ax-slingers Dickie Betts (Allman Brothers Band) and Elvin Bishop celebrate Southern rock. Plus, newlyweds Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony warble as a duo for the first time in public. Presenters include Norah Jones, Ludacris, John Travolta and Gary Sinise. Queen Latifah hosts.

Where: CBS (Channel 2).

When: 8 p.m. Sunday.

Grammy prices pack a whammy 

Psst! Hey, kid, wanna go to the Grammys?

Better dig deep because a pair of premium seats at Sunday's music trophy fest will set you back around $8,850 at various ticket brokers. And unless you're a member of the National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences - or a nominee, presenter or performer - that's one of the very few ways you're getting into the 47th annual show.

The record academy, though, recognizing the deep need of some people to squeeze into a rented tuxedo and be snubbed by celebrities in public, has put a couple of tickets up for auction on eBay. The package, now past $800 in bids, includes two VIP tickets to the awards, where you'll sit in a Staples Center suite. You'll also get entry to the official Grammy party afterward where nobody will pay attention to you, either.

- F.S.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) BAND of BROTHERS

Los Lonely Boys make their Grammy move

(2) Los Lonely Boys' Henry Garza, center, with brothers JoJo, right, and Ringo

(3) no caption (Grammy award)

Box:

Grammy prices pack a whammy (see text)