Raul Malo of the The Mavericks Interview (January 15, 1991)

The Mavericks are an American country music band from Miami, Florida. The band consists of Raul Malo (lead vocals, guitar), Paul Deakin (drums), Eddie Perez (lead guitar), and Jerry Dale McFadden (keyboards). Malo and Deakin founded the band in 1989 along with Robert Reynolds (bass guitar) and Ben Peeler (lead guitar). After one independent album, the band was signed by MCA Nashville Records and David Lee Holt replaced Peeler on lead guitar; he would be replaced by Nick Kane shortly after their second MCA album and third overall 1994's What a Crying Shame. The band recorded a total of four albums for MCA and one for Mercury Records before disbanding in 2000. They reunited for one album in 2003 on Sanctuary Records, by which point Perez had become their fourth guitarist, and former touring keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden became an official fifth member. The lineup of Malo, Deakin, Reynolds, Perez, and McFadden reunited a second time in 2012 for a series of new albums, first on Big Machine Records' Valory imprint and then on Mono Mundo. Reynolds was fired in 2014 and while he was not officially replaced, Ed Friedland was their touring bassist until 2023. The Mavericks have charted fifteen times on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs charts; their highest-peaking single there is "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down", a collaboration with accordionist Flaco Jiménez which reached number thirteen in 1996. Three of their singles made top ten on the country music charts of the defunct RPM magazine in Canada, and "Dance the Night Away" was a hit single in the United Kingdom in 1998. Their most commercially successful album What a Crying Shame has been certified platinum in the United States and double-platinum in Canada. In addition, the band has received one Grammy Award, two Country Music Association awards, and three Academy of Country Music awards. Their sound is defined by a wide variety of musical styles outside of country music, such as Tejano, Latin, Americana, and the pop music of the 1950s, with particular emphasis on Malo's singing voice. History The Mavericks were founded in Miami, Florida, in 1989.[3] Lead vocalist and guitarist Raul Malo met bass guitarist Robert Reynolds, a native of Kansas City, Missouri,[4] when both were performing in local bands. The two of them developed a friendship after realizing that they both shared interest in musicians such as Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash, and decided to form their own band. Paul Deakin, a friend of Reynolds's and native of Ohio, was chosen as drummer.[4] Completing the original lineup was lead guitarist Ben Peeler, a native of Jackson, Mississippi.[1][4][5] They immediately began touring throughout the Miami area, primarily at venues that typically booked rock bands. This was because the band wanted to perform original songs, while most of the country music-themed venues at the time preferred acts that performed cover songs instead.[1][6] In late 1990, The Mavericks released their self-titled debut album on a local independent label called Y&T Music.[4] Malo wrote every song on the album.[7]

Added 22 Apr 2026