Product Description:
The Mavericks: Nick Kane, Paul Deakin, Raul Malo, Robert Reynolds, David Lee Holt.
Additional personnel: Flaco Jimenez.
Liner Note Author: Rich Kienzle.
Recording information: 1992 - 1999.
Emerging in the early 1990s, the Mavericks were a new breed of country band. They were schooled in the Bakersfield verities of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, but equally influenced by pop/rock and soul of the '60s, and never as slick-sounding or overtly commercial as '80s crossover stars like Alabama or Eddie Rabbitt. Singer Raul Malo's soaring tenor garnered endless comparisons to Roy Orbison (a likeness furthered by some of the songs' arrangements), but he had just as much in common with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo. THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION documents the Miami band's career through 1998, spotlighting every aspect of the eclectic ensemble's sound.
The admittedly Orbison-like acoustic ballad "Dream River" and a dreamy take on the standard "Blue Moon" sidle up alongside various rockabilly burners and honky-tonk romps, as well as covers of songs made popular by Buck Owens, Bruce Springsteen, and the Tremeloes. By painting with a wide palette of colors, the Mavericks create a broad, encompassing portrait of American music, captured in its many-hued glory on THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION.
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