Mavericks together again

Fortunately for fans, the band is back together and has an Atlanta show set for April 25. But the road to “back together” had some detours and bumps.

“People here (in the United States) don’t really know that, at the millennium, we had a huge hit in the (United Kingdom), probably our biggest hit we’ve ever had,” drummer Paul Deakin said.

After “Dance the Night Away” hit No. 1 in Britain, “We just kept going over there, kept touring, kept doing press, TV shows and everything, milking and milking and milking it, as you do when you have a hit like that,” Deakin said. “It was at the end of 10 years of touring here. And (singer) Raul (Malo) kept saying, we need a break, we need a break. Possibly, we could have said OK, break, but we didn’t.”

The group first went on hiatus around 2000 and then made a self-titled album that was released in 2003. Then came the breakup.

The grind of touring that had the band burned out as “Dance the Night Away” was enjoying its U.K. chart run was still a major culprit in the split, along with Malo feeling he wanted to explore some musical directions he didn’t think he could pursue with the band.

For quite awhile, it looked like the split would be permanent. Malo started a solo career and released five albums between 2006 and 2010. And several of the band members mostly got out of music altogether. Keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden became a curator at an art museum. Bassist Robert Reynolds worked at a digital company. Deakin, while he played some with David Mead and Jason White, spent most of his time in carpentry.

“I hooked up with another musician who did the same thing, Mike McAdam, who was the original guitarist for Steve Earle and the Dukes,” Deakin said. “He worked for a guy who was sympathetic to musicians and I kind of came in.”

Deakin built a successful business and likely still would be spending most of his time doing carpentry if the Mavericks (with guitarist Eddie Perez also on board) had not unexpectedly come back into the picture.

“The idea originally was to do a reunion tour of 30 dates. That’s how it came about,” Deakin said.

But Malo’s idea was even bigger.

“He thought it seems a little disingenuous to go out and cash in on old Mavericks songs and things like that,” Deakin said. “He said ‘I think we should do a record.’ I was like ‘Really?’”

Malo had a batch of songs already written that he thought would suit the Mavericks. He had also talked to the head of Big Machine Records/Valory Music Co., Scott Borchetta, who had known Malo since the Mavericks were signed to MCA Records early in the band’s career. Borchetta committed to releasing whatever album the reunited Mavericks made.

“He (Malo) quotes it as being a perfect storm scenario of having the songs, being the right time where we are in our lives as a band, Scott Borchetta comes along, all of those things played into it,” Deakin said of the reunion.

The magic the Mavericks enjoyed when the band first was together was still there. “In Time” is one of the band’s best albums, which is no small statement.

When the Mavericks broke onto the national scene with their second album, 1992’s “From Hell to Paradise,” they made waves with a lively mix of country, rock and Tex-Mex music, all topped off by the soaring vocals of Malo, who was frequently compared with the great Roy Orbison.

Subsequent albums — “What a Crying Shame” (1994), “Music for All Occasions (1995) and “Trampoline” (1998) — expanded the group’s already innovative sound. While garnering rave reviews and winning prestigious awards (including a 1995 Grammy Award) , the band never had major hits in the United States. Its best success was the song “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” which topped out at 13 on the country chart.

“In Time” hasn’t been a hit-making machine, either. In fact, if anything, the album falls even further outside mainstream country than previous Mavericks albums. But the music is arguably better than ever — and the band has expanded its musical reach once again.

“There’s some kind of high flying thing that seems to be going on with the band,” Deakin said. “Perhaps because we’re friends, perhaps because we’ve grown a bit, I’ve never heard the band sound better.”