As if skillfully defying any one genre for three decades wasn’t enough, the GRAMMY-award winning band, The Mavericks, will soon reach an entirely new audience as they perform their distinctive Tex-Mex, country, rock and soul blend in a reverse crossover of sorts with an all-Spanish language album due out Aug. 21, 2020.
En Español will transport this super group, led by vocalist, founding member and lead songwriter Raul Malo, into an entirely new realm of listeners but keeps the band’s distinctive sound, grounded by the sultry baritone of Malo.
Tejano music fans likely know of The Mavericks, formed in Miami in 1989, either from their early hits in the 1990s, including, “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” that featured legendary accordionist Flaco Jimenez and was one of the group’s most successful singles. Or they may know of Malo from his time, during a break from The Mavericks, when he participated in the Tex-Mex collaborative Los Super Seven in the early 2000s that also featured artists like Ruben Ramos, Rick Treviño, and David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos fame.
The lead single from En Español is “Poder Vivir” and was released June 12 with an accompanying live performance video. The song gives listeners a taste of the original and catchy sound and haunting lyrics that will appear on En Español. Malo, a first-generation Cuban American, sounds completely at ease singing in Spanish and penned in whole or in part, all five of the original tunes on the album. The rest of the album will feature classic, Latin standards, such as the timeless “Sabor a Mi,” “No Vale La Pena,” and “Sombras Nada Mas.”
Malo said, in a press statement, that the record is one that he has long wanted to create. “Some of these songs are songs my family would play and sing on weekends at family parties and get-togethers,” Malo said. “But it’s not all nostalgia either. There are plenty of new original songs that put this record squarely in the moment for us.”
Malo is backed by veteran musicians, fellow Miamian and charter bandmember Paul Deakin on drums and vibraphone; Jerry Dale McFadden, who joined in 1993; and Eddie Perez, a Mexican American guitarist from Los Angeles, who is the band’s youngest and newest member, becoming a Maverick in 2003.
Tejano fans will find it interesting that Flaco Jimenez will come full circle from his first collaboration with The Mavericks and be featured on En Español on the “mariachi-flavored rendition” of “No Vale La Pena.”
Keep reading for more news to come on The Mavericks historic foray into the Spanish-language music world with En Español.
Like Tejano Nation on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with everything Tejano. Listen to new Tejano music first with our playlists on Spotify and Soundcloud.
- The Mavericks drop lead single ‘Poder Vivir’ from upcoming all-Spanish album
- Nacido debuts with romantic cumbia ‘Quiero Ser’
- Cynthia Bustamante pens ‘Perdóname’ for upcoming debut album
- Destiny Navaira premieres music video for Emilio remake ‘Pienso En Ti’
- ‘Tejano America’ web series to air Father’s Day edition hosted by Ram Herrera on June 21