Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads (2006)

Director:

Hector Galan

Genre:

Music

Tagline:

Three Brothers One Dream

Plot:

After a childhood of playing cantinas and honky tonks from Texas to Tennessee, this band of brothers...

Plot Keywords:

Los Lonely Boys | Mexican American | Chicano | Family Relationships | Rock 'n' Roll

Cast

Los Lonely Boys

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language and some thematic elements.

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG

Company:

Concho River Films

Trivia:

A performance by Los Lonely Boys of their song, Cottonfields and Crossroads, in Austin Texas was the inspiration for the film for producer/director Hector Galan.

Dull and overrated: both the band and the movie

In Austin, anytime a local artist's music gets played outside of Texas, it's greeted as the Second Coming of Stevie Ray Vaughan, whether it be folk singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin, teenybopper punks The All-American Rejects, or the god-awful pop-metal band Blue October. The most recent Central Texas band to get this accolade is San Angelo's Los Lonely Boys. The thing is, though, that SRV was a better singer, musician and showman than the Boys, and his songwriting partner Doyle Bramhall wrote better lyrics than the Garzas do. Guitarist Henry Garza plays like a poor man's Carlos Santana, the brothers harmonize like a poor man's Beatles, and their typical sound is like a poor man's Widespread Panic.

So with these reservations in mind, I went to see "Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads", based on the glowing reviews and word of mouth the film got at this year's SXSW film fest. For a few fleeting moments, the movie was almost interesting, but never for long.

My main complaint about the film is that is basically a 90-minute press kit for the band. You don't see their darker side at all (two of them have been arrested for assaulting women and smoking dope), which makes it far less compelling than a typical episode of VH1's "Behind the Music". Also I didn't like that it was shot on video tape (not even high-definition, mind you) at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Which is not to say that it's all bad. Most of the film was shot in 2003, when the band was still living in the barrio and traveling around in a beat-up Dodge van. And it was interesting to hear how their Dad formed the band and came up with the name, but eventually got kicked out of the group.

But if you're looking for Texas's finest blues-rock trio, check out ZZ Top. If you want to hear the best Mexican-American rock ever made, listen to Santana's first two albums. And if you want to see the best doc about the Austin music scene, see "The Devil and Daniel Johnston". But do not expect great things from Los Lonely Boys or this movie. 6 out of 10.