Archive for October, 2010

In the years since the band’s first 1999 breakup, the various members of The Mavericks have branched out to chase their own individual accomplishments. Though the band would bring it back in for a brief stint in 2003, they would never recapture the success of their earlier years.Raul Malo has moved on to his solo career, releasing his first individual album in 2001, prior to the bands attempted reboot, titled Today. The album did not garner much attention in the United States, reached the UK hit list at 80. Malo would see slightly more success in his second attempt, You’re Only Lonely in 2006, ranking at 38 among US Indies. The year 2007 saw Malo make his prodigal return to the US Country charts, with his album After Hours climbing to the 43 spot. He followed up the success later that year with Marshmallow World & Other Holiday Favorites which checked in at 11 in the US Holiday category. After a 2 year hiatus, Malo released Lucky One in 2009, and just released a new album, Sinners and Saints, hitting shelves this month.Robert Reynolds joined a group known as Swag shortly after the breakup. He was later involved with the Hillbilly All-Stars, a group focused on touring and live shows with some intermittent studio time mixed in. He has recently played alongside Kevin Montgomery and the Roadtrippers and has worked in other aspects of the country music industry with digitalrodeo.com, an online music community for country artists and fans.Like Reynolds, Deakin has bounced around from act to act for a while, actually playing with Reynolds at a few stops. While he has not pursued future music endeavors as heavily as his former bandmates, all 3 original Mavericks will be forever remembered in music history.

Known for their relatable lyrics, The Mavericks were a band for the everyman, sorting out real life problems for real life people to fantastically original rhythms. Their collaboration effort with Flaco Jimenez was the highest chart topping effort of any of the band’s numerous songs over the years, largely due to inspired writing and adept lyricism. Raul Malo teamed with Al Anderson in coauthoring this historic hit. Take a look for yourselfI can’t sleep a wink anymoreEver since you first walked out the doorThen I just started drinking to forgetBut I don’t think the worst has happened yetChorusAll you ever do is bring me downMaking me a fool all over townThey all wonder why I wear a frownThat’s cause honey all you do is bring me down bring me down, Flaco (more…)

Under the direction of Cuban-American frontman Raul Malo, the Mavericks came together in Miami, Florida, in 1989. Malo met bassist Robert Reynolds, a Kansas City native, at school and quickly formed a bond centering around their similar taste in music, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, legendary crooners who changed the sound of country music. Reynolds recruited his best friend Paul Deakin to play the drums. Deakin had spent some time working with some progressive rock bands, though nothing had stuck.The team soon found out the country scene in Miami didn’t immediately cater to emerging talent. Though there were plenty of country-catering bars in the area, they tended to book gigs with a primarily cover-filled playlists. Country audiences, they argued, came to hear tunes they knew, not new songs from upstart bands. The Mavericks decided to focus on playing rock clubs, a decision that would heavily influence their eclectic sound mix of rock and twang. (more…)