One Track Mind: Los Lonely Boys, “Don’t Walk Away” from Revelation (2014)

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A difficult period for Los Lonely Boys finds the group emerging with new collaborators and a new sense of determination on their forthcoming release Revelation. The results, at least with this advance track, make good on the album title’s promise.

“Don’t Walk Away” doesn’t dismantle Los Lonely Boys’ signature gumbo of blues-soaked rock and brown-eyed soul, so much as add a handful of notable spices: There’s a darkly rustic, fiercely ruminative feel very much in keeping with the mid-1980s work of John Mellencamp and R.E.M. And that makes sense: The group, which overcame a devastating injury to Henry Garza, is now working with producer Don Gehman — over oversaw 1985’s Scarecrow with Mellencamp, 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant with R.E.M., and 1987’s The Lonesome Jubilee with Mellencamp.

Meanwhile, in a first for Los Lonely Boys, a group of co-writers are also on board for the album, which is due January 21, 2014 via their own Lonely Tone imprint. They include Emmy-award winner Matthew Gerrard, Americana legend Radney Foster, and George Pajon Jr., of Black-Eyed Peas fame, among others.

Yet Henry and brothers Jojo and Ringo, no doubt the result of everything they’ve been through after the frontman’s fall from a stage last February, have never sounded more present. “Don’t Walk Away,” a scalding entreaty for love, pulls you so close you can almost smell the burning desperation.

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Nick DeRiso