Mountain Blog

On this Sunday’s sold out show, we will be joined by vocalist Raul Malo, along with Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain; Dar Williams and David Wax Museum.

While Raul Malo’s name might not be immediately familiar to everyone, chances are most of you will remember his golden voice from the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum-selling country band The Mavericks. The Mavericks saw most of their action in the mid and late 90’s, charting 14 singles (remember those?) on the Billboard country charts, including “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down” and “There Goes My Heart”(click the titles to download mp3s from Amazon).

The Mavericks hung it up in 2004 (shortly after their first and only appearance on Mountain Stage), and Malo moved on to a solo career.

“My world has changed completely since those days,” Malo says. “I went from a bus and two semis to driving up and down the Jersey Turnpike with a tour manager and a rental car and my acoustic guitar playing these little clubs on the East Coast. And I found myself having more fun, and seeing more and learning more, and meeting more wonderful people than I did in all my years of touring in the Mavericks.”

One of the things that Malo's solo career has afforded him is the freedom to explore his life-long connection to Latin music. (Malo is of Cuban heritage, and grew up in Miami, Florida) While a certain degree of Latin tunes will remain forever familiar to country music fans (thanks to the iconic Mariachi horns in Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire), Sinners & Saints, his latest, finds Malo blending country and rock with flamenco melodicism and springy surf-twang in a way that might not have been possible during his years with the Mavericks.

We truly believe that Raul Malo one of the best vocalists working today in any genre, and we think you'll agree. We’re thrilled that he'll be joining us at this Sunday's Mountain Stage, and we can't wait for you to hear him on the radio.