DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm TV critic David Bianculli. Last weekend, Raul Malo and his veteran roots music group the Mavericks were scheduled to play at a tribute concert in their honor at the famed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The concert was held as planned. And among the other genre artists taking part were Steve Earle, Patty Griffin and Jim Lauderdale. But Raul Malo himself wasn't there. Fighting cancer for the last few years, he watched from his hospital room last weekend as a special feed of the concert was streamed to his bedside. Raul Malo died Monday at age 60.
Raul Malo was born in 1965 the son of Cuban immigrants in Miami. In his early 20s, he became the guitarist and lead singer for the Mavericks, a genre-bending band that lived up to its rebellious name. They played punk clubs in Miami Beach, but with a mixture of music that embraced not only Latin rhythms but roots music, rock 'n' roll and country. The Mavericks recorded such popular hits as "Here Comes The Rain" and "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down." Their most recent studio album was last year's "Moon & Stars." And their eclectic LPs over their four-decade career included an all-Spanish album and a tribute to Mötley Crüe.
In 1995, the Mavericks released "Music For All Occasions," which included the hits "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down" and "Here Comes The Rain" and the opening track, "Foolish Heart." Terry Gross spoke with Raul Malo when that album was released. She began by playing the opening song, "Foolish Heart."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOOLISH HEART")
THE MAVERICKS: (Singing) Foolish heart, you made me weep. Foolish heart, I'm yours to keep. You're the one that's still with me, foolish heart. Don't set me free. There was a time...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
TERRY GROSS: Raul Malo, welcome to FRESH AIR.
RAUL MALO: Thank you.
GROSS: Some people, I imagine, might think it's incongruous for a Cuban American to be a country singer. Did it ever seem that way to you?
MALO: (Laughter) Sure. It still does sometimes. But, you know, I never gave it a second thought. I mean, it is what I love to do. And my parents, you know, certainly have supported me in doing so. And, you know, I grew up in a pretty musical household. So there was all kinds of music around always. I mean, we listened to everything from Hank Williams to Celia Cruz to Sam Cooke to Bobby Darin. It didn't matter.
GROSS: Now, what was your neighborhood like when you were growing up?
MALO: It was a good neighborhood. You know, it's a Cuban immigrant neighborhood and not very rough, but hardworking people. Blue collar people working every day for a living, you know, just trying to stay in the game.
GROSS: So what was the club scene like in Miami when you started playing in bands?
MALO: It was pretty wild, actually. You know, there wasn't a lot of country music, to say the least. I think we were the only country band actually playing in these clubs. They were original music clubs, which was the good thing.
GROSS: What do you mean original music clubs?
MALO: Well, they were clubs that allowed the bands to come in and play their original music instead of...
GROSS: Oh.
MALO: You know, instead of bands coming in and doing, like, four sets of covers, you know, all night. So at the time, you know, we were allowed certain creative freedoms, you know, where you could basically go onstage and play whatever you wanted. And sometimes it led to interesting nights because we'd be right on after, you know, some punk rock or some heavy metal band. And here we were playing, you know, "I Fall To Pieces" or "Crazy Arms" or something, you know, just something that sounded old and country. And, you know, they didn't quite know what to do with us. But they found themselves having a good time and digging it.
And that was the whole point, you know, that we were trying to do, that we're still trying to do is to bring people in that, you know, would normally turn away from country music. You know, we want them to go, well, no, you know, this is cool. I want to go buy a Patsy Cline record. I want to go buy a Hank Williams record and that kind of thing, you know, and listen to the music. And, you know, it was an interesting time because it really allowed us to do whatever we wanted.
GROSS: Now, all the country people who you've mentioned, you know, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, they're among the early country performers when country was still not dressed up in a lot of studio accoutrements.
MALO: Right.
GROSS: Is that what you prefer?
MALO: Well, you know, that's not only in country music. I mean, in pop music as well, you know, basically you have...
GROSS: True enough. Yeah.
MALO: We have people now that, you know, you don't even have to be a good singer. You don't have to be a musician. You don't have to be anything, you know? You just got to be this little image with long hair and ripped up jeans and throw a flannel shirt, and we'll make you sound good, kid. You know, don't worry about it. And that's the way it goes in all kinds of music. I mean, so, you know, there is something to be said about the old way of, like, just going in and actually having to sing. What a concept? And actually having to play your instruments, you know? That's the problem I have with a lot of today's music.
GROSS: What year did you actually move to Nashville?
MALO: I think I moved here - I'm trying to think. I'm going on three years that I've actually been living in Nashville.
GROSS: Did you go into culture shock at all? Was it a very different place than what you were used to?
MALO: Well, it certainly is a different place. I mean, you know, (laughter) Miami and Nashville, there's a big difference. No. 1, you know, you don't have the big Latin influence that you do in Miami. So that's a big part of the change. But quite honestly, I've really enjoyed living here. And I call it home now, and I do like it a lot. And I do miss, you know, certain things from home, you know, the coffee, the people talking about Fidel, you know, the old men playing dominoes at the park and talking about how, you know, they're going to do this and they're going to do that to Fidel. But (laughter) so I do miss a lot of that. You know, but I'm gone all the time. And I'm on the road. So you don't really have time to even think about it, you know, when you get home. You know, my parents just moved up to Nashville as well.
GROSS: Oh, really?
MALO: Yeah, so that's a little bit of Miami moving up, you know, a bunch of Cubans moving up to Nashville. So I like that. You know, that's fun now.
GROSS: Now, you're talking about the different influences that you've drawn on and all the different kinds of music you listen to. On your new CD "Music For All Occasions," you do a song that I know from my past (laughter). This is "Something Stupid" that Frank Sinatra - I mean, the song isn't stupid. The song is called "Something Stupid."
MALO: (Laughter).
GROSS: And Frank and Nancy Sinatra recorded it back in 1967. It rose to the top of the charts.
MALO: Right.
GROSS: You do a duet of this with Trisha Yearwood. What inspired you to record this?
MALO: Oh, you know, I don't know. It's just one of those songs that I grew up listening to. And we wanted to do a duet with Trisha. And, you know, we start going through all the different kinds of scenarios. What kind of song can we do? And we didn't want to do the typical country music duet, you know? We didn't want to do a George and Tammy Wynette song. We didn't want to do a John Cash and June Carter song. So we found this one, and we gave it a shot. You know, we just thought, well, you know, we'll see how it goes. We'll give it, you know, worst comes to worst, we'll have a laugh. And when we were done with it, we really liked it. And we kept it on the record.
GROSS: I like it, too. Before I play it, I just want to ask you one thing. Didn't you always think when Frank Sinatra and his daughter, Nancy, sang this together, I mean, don't the laws of God and man prohibit a father and daughter from singing a love duet like this?
(LAUGHTER)
MALO: Yeah, but it's Frank Sinatra. The rules don't apply to him.
GROSS: OK (laughter). So here...
MALO: He changes them, baby.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: So here's the Mavericks' recording of "Something Stupid" from their new album, "Music For All Occasions," with my guest, singer Raul Malo.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMETHING STUPID")
TRISHA YEARWOOD AND THE MAVERICKS: (Singing) I know I'd stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me. And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me. And afterwards, we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two. And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you. I can see it in your eyes that you despise the same old lines you heard the night before. And though it's just a line to you, for me, it's true and never seemed so right before. I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make the meaning come true. But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late and I'm alone with you. The time is right. Your perfume fills my head. The stars get red and, oh, the night's so blue. And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you.
BIANCULLI: That's Raul Malo and Trisha Yearwood from the Mavericks' CD "Music For All Occasions." Raul Malo spoke with Terry Gross in 1995. More after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
This is FRESH AIR. Let's get back to Terry's 1995 conversation with Raul Malo, guitarist and lead singer of The Mavericks. He died Monday at age 60.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
GROSS: I know you had an earlier album, I believe, independently released in which your songs were - some of them were more political, is that right?
MALO: Mm-hmm.
GROSS: Were you writing different kinds of songs, then?
MALO: No, I wasn't writing different kinds of songs. Well, I guess, in a way, I was. I mean, you know, part of that whole - the whole - the feelings behind all those songs is that, you know, you have - you basically have your whole life to write your first record. So, these were songs that I had written, you know, in all my years there in Miami since I started writing songs, you know? And they were - they happened to touch, you know, political, social nerves, you know, and there's still songs that I play live. You know, we still sing these songs live, and they're important to us. But I realize now that at that point in time, you know, those songs were written from a real personal point of view. And to tell you the truth, I had a problem at the time wanting to put those songs on the record. I was outvoted by everybody else. I don't regret that they're on the record, and I don't regret the record that was made. But I always felt that they were a little too personal. You know, the album was very much about the life and times of The Mavericks in Miami. And I always thought that, well, you know, the people around us know what these songs are about. But, you know, the rest of the world or the country won't know unless we go out and explain it to them, and then, you know, we go out and play. And it's that whole scenario. But that's - you know, that's my take on it, you know?
GROSS: Can I ask you for an example of a lyric that was very personal?
MALO: Sure. You know, in "Hell To Paradise," the song about my aunt leaving Cuba and coming over here was inspired by her, but anybody who's been in Miami knows somebody who's been through this because we all came over from somewhere. And the funny thing was, when we were touring this song - this album, I remember going through all parts of the country and playing the song and explaining it. There's a little part on the show where I explained the song, and I remember having all kinds of people, all walks of life, coming up to me after and going, wow, you know, I remember - older generations, I remember, you know, seeing the Statue of Liberty when I came over from Poland or from Czechoslovakia or from other parts of Europe, you know? And so it touched a lot of people's nerves, you know, in that it not only dealt with the Cuban immigrants, but I think we're all immigrants in this country, and we all came over from somewhere. So it was neat that it affected other people. And one of the lyrics is this 90-mile trip has taken 30 years to make. They tried to keep forever what was never theirs to take. I cursed and scratched the devil's hand as he stood in front of me. One last drag from his big cigar, and he finally set me free. That's the last verse on the song "From Hell To Paradise."
BIANCULLI: Raul Malo speaking to Terry Gross in 1995. The guitarist and lead singer of The Mavericks died this week. He was 60 years old. Coming up, film critic Justin Chang reviews the newest film in the "Knives Out" murder mystery series. This is FRESH AIR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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