How The Mavericks Formed Their Band
The 1995 Grammy Award winning (for best country performance by a duo or group with vocal) Mavericks officially started in 1989, in Miami, Florida. The band first began to take shape, though, in the mid-80′s, when Raul Malo and Robert Reynolds found their mutual love for country music, at a local record store, and its classic icons such as Johnny Cash and the legendary Hank Williams. Raul Malo was a singer and a songwriter and Reynolds played the bass. They added drummer Paul Deakin and guitarist Ben Peeler to the mix by the late 80′s and began to play in venues around the south Florida region.
The band wrote and performed songs written by Malo, who was the energetic momentum behind much of the band’s music. Sense many clubs, especially those who bill country music acts, want cover bands, the Mavericks often played at local rock n roll venues.
Their debut album, The Mavericks, was recorded in the fall of 1990 and released in 1991 by Cross Three, a Miami record label. All thirteen of the songs on the album were written by Raul Malo. It had one official single, “This Broken Heart,” which did not reach the singles chart.