Austin TX music: Music listings, bands, music news, reviews, SXSW and ACL

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Austin Music

The Mavericks play the Cingular Stage on Friday 5-6 p.m.

XL on ACL:

Sunday
• Sunday's Photos
• ACLove: Austin At Its Best
• Sunday Photos
• Capsule Reviews
• Recap
• So Long!

Saturday
• Saturday's Photos
• When Pigs Fly
• Capsule Reviews

Friday
• Friday's Photos
• Yeah, baby, yeah!
• Corcoran Reviews
• Capsule Reviews
• Jam Bands

Need-To-Know
• ACL Fest Index
• Band Schedule
• Interactive Stage Layout Map
• Critics' Picks

More XL ACL Reading
• CD Reviews
• Jam-packed
• REM: Still Shiny, Still Happy
• The Many Faces of Al Green
• Stapleton's Sweet Success
• Live music 101, v. 2
• Liz Phair
• Jeff Klein
• Raul Malo
• Rise of Southern Rock
• J.T. Van Zandt
• Beth Orton

XL on ACL: Dear Raul Malo: We Love You, Too

By John DeFore
Austin American-Statesman
Sept. 18, 2003

Country crooner Raul Malo, who packed the Continental Club just a few weeks ago, is back in town for the Austin City Limits fest -- this time fronting the newly reunited Mavericks, who on Tuesday will release their first album in five years. In between an overseas trip with the band and a day of television interviews, Malo carved out a few minutes to speak with the American-Statesman about the much-anticipated reunion.

On getting the Mavericks back together:"Throughout the course of the last few years, while I was producing other people's records, I kept writing my own songs and stockpiling them. I really had no plans of making a Mavericks record per se, but after a year and a half I had a collection of songs that sounded like a Mavericks record. Or what constitutes a Mavericks record for me; it didn't sound like my solo record, even though there's probably hints of that. When we started playing together again, it was almost like getting back with an old girlfriend or something. You know the quirks, and what works and what doesn't."

On producing Austinite Rick Trevino's recent album "In My Dreams": "That record was really instrumental in getting me to this point to make a Mavericks record. It's very much a country album, and it just kind of made me like country music again, made me realize why I liked it in the first place."

On Austin: "Austin has really become one of my favorite cities; I love it for many reasons. There's a certain appreciation people have there for noncorporate entities, which I appreciate especially nowadays -- I used to not worry about stuff like that, but now I do. So to see Austin, and businesses like the Continental and the San Jose and the Austin Motel -- that whole little strip on South Congress -- and to see that people take pride in those businesses and don't want to tear them down and put up a Walgreen's or the usual stuff, it's pretty great, and it inspires me. I finally had to write a song about the San Jose so Liz (Lambert) would let me stay there on a moment's notice. 'Cause otherwise, I'm at the back of the pack, six months' wait to get a room there. I'm really glad the Mavericks are going to get to play the Continental while we're in town."

On working with Dale Watson: "Dale is truly one of the last honky-tonk heroes. I've known him for years and been a big fan. We got together and wrote this really sweet little song that's one of my favorites on the record. It's funny to hear him sing it, too -- I have the work tape with him singing; it just sounds like a honky-tonk standard. But then you hear our version of it, and it's a whole different world, a little loungey Latin thing. I know Dale's been playing it live, and I can't wait to hear that."

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