High-quality, culturally rich performances in our own backyard
By Lee Hurley
The Siluria Sounds Concert Series, presented by the City of Alabaster, at the city’s new amphitheater on the Municipal Green next to City Hall, kicked off on April 2 with performances by the Thompson High School Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Lab Band, and Jazz Combo followed by national touring act The Cleverlys on April 11.
Still to come:
May 9: Los Lonely Boys, 7 p.m.
July 18: The Wildflowers-A Tribute to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with special guest The M-80s-Explosive ‘80s Rock, 7 p.m.
Aug. 15: Young MC, Tone Loc and Sugarhill Gang, 7 p.m.
Oct. 11: Alabama Symphony Orchestra, 3 p.m.
All concerts are free to attend thanks to community sponsors Discover Shelby Alabama, Baptist Health, Central State Bank, and the Alabaster Sports and Entertainment Foundation. Check cityofalabaster.com and the city’s social media accounts for detailed information for each event.
A Chat with Jamie Cole on Siluria Sounds
Alabaster Connection: How has the city responded to organizing this new concert series?
Jamie Cole: The response from city employees and partners has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s been inspiring to see staff from City Hall administration, first responders, Park and Rec, and other departments come together enthusiastically. Seeing everyone “step up” has made me confident about the event’s success in the long run.
AC: What challenges have you faced with parking and logistics?
JC: Parking has been one of the main logistical hurdles. The city developed a detailed parking map to guide concertgoers and are operating shuttles from remote lots throughout the evening. Different departments have collaborated creatively to solve potential issues, turning what could have been a problem into a strong example of teamwork.
AC: Can attendees bring their own seats or tents?
JC: Guests are welcome to bring chairs, but tents and other large items aren’t permitted in order to maintain clear sightlines and safety. The event is designed to be an open, shared experience where everyone can see and enjoy the performance comfortably.
AC: Will there be food and beverages available on site?
JC: Yes, food trucks will be available at each show and non-alcoholic beverages. Alcohol sales will begin with the May concert, pending the city’s new licensing arrangement. The goal is to create a complete food and beverage experience for attendees to enjoy.
AC: What kind of atmosphere are organizers hoping to create?
JC: An event that feels local, welcoming, and creatively vibrant. The idea is to give Alabaster residents the chance to experience high-quality, culturally rich performances close to home.
AC: What is the long-term vision for these concerts?
JC: This first season is just the beginning. The city sees this series as an evolving project that will improve from show to show and year to year.
Los Lonely Boys: Bringing “Texican Rock n’ Roll” to Alabaster
By Brent Thompson
One of the realities for touring musicians is enduring extended periods of time away from home and family. But the members of Los Lonely Boys—brothers Jojo, Henry, and Ringo Garza—have the unique experience of taking family on the road.
“Leaving home is always hard,” bassist Jojo Garza says, speaking by phone from his home in San Angelo, Texas. “We’re just regular people, too—we like to make sure the lawn looks good and things are in order around the house. But it really helps to have each other out on the road, and that’s one of the main reasons that we’ve been able to go so far. I’ve said this for years on end, nobody’s got your back like your brother does, and it’s still that way.”
Growing up in a musical household, the trio—known for its self-described “Texican Rock n’ Roll” sound—made its initial splash with the infectious song “Heaven.” The track peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2004 and propelled the band to a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
With more than 20 years of album releases now under its belt, Garza explains how the band comprises its set lists these days. “When people get to know you, they really like the first album that you put out—that’s just something that’s part of the business,” he says. “For us, we try to balance by giving the people what they want and also picking a couple of songs from the rest of the albums. It’s a game trying to find that balance between old and new. I would love to go out there and please everybody, but the truth is that when we wind up doing it for ourselves, it tends to please a lot more people that way. There are definitely some ties to certain songs. A song like “Heaven” is going to make the set list every night—that’s the one that broke us wide open. The dynamic of the show is another thing.”
To that end, I ask Garza how a song like “Heaven” stays fresh and relevant to him after he has performed it literally thousands of times. “One of the easiest ways is recognizing what it’s done for us, and it really is the reason that Los Lonely Boys were brought into the public eye,” he says.
But even with a catalog of well-traveled songs, the trio continues to lay down ideas for new material. “We’re always writing music, but we never intentionally write 10 to 12 songs to go do a new studio album or anything like that,” Garza says. “There are still so many songs in our vault, and we see if there are any in there that we can finish up. A song like “Natural Thing” off Resurrection had been in the vault for maybe 20 years. For some reason, timing was everything for it—we enjoyed the song and even played it live, but it never made its way to the table until a year and a half ago. We’ve got a studio, and we’ve got our own personal studios at home to get ideas down, so it’s always happening. It usually takes our manager saying, ‘Alright guys, you’ve got to get back into the studio [laughs].’”
And while Garza is proud of Los Lonely Boys’ recorded output, he stresses that the band thrives in the live setting. “One thing you can rest assured that is going to happen at a Los Lonely Boys concert is this, the awe people leave with because they never expected Los Lonely Boys to be what we are live as compared to what we are on a studio album,” he says emphatically. “As happy as we are with the work we’ve done on our albums, we are a live band. It all comes down to how we grew up playing—in the living room, at barbecues, and at weddings. One of the things we learned early with our dad (musician Enrique Garza, Sr.) was that we were pretty much a jukebox. From that respect, you’re playing songs that people know and sometimes you write songs that pay homage to that.”
Garza also admits that encouragement from long-time fans still provides a great morale boost. “It’s such a refreshing feeling to talk to people that have been following us for 20 years,” he says. “For those people to say, ‘There was a time I thought you’d reached a pinnacle, but you guys are just getting better.’ Hearing something like that is enough to make you keep doing it the way you’re doing it because it’s still creating something special in that moment.”
Siluria Sounds concert series presents Los Lonely Boys on Saturday, May 9. Showtime is 7 p.m.