Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 23, 1995                   TAG: 9506230039
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE MAVERICKS: THEY'RE COUNTRY WITH A TWIST

He was excited about his wife, Trisha Yearwood, appearing again on ``The Late Show with David Letterman,'' about traveling with her to hang out for a few days in New York, about touring with Mary-Chapin Carpenter, about his band's upcoming album and its contribution to the ``Apollo 13'' movie soundtrack.

In other words, during a telephone interview from the home he shares with Yearwood outside Nashville, Reynolds had a lot of ground to cover.

First, he wanted to plug The Mavericks' concert tonight at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium.

The show is one of about 50 solo dates the group has booked among gigs opening for Carpenter on her current concert tour. Reynolds said the solo shows give the group a needed respite from the opening-act grind, which he called ``sometimes stifling'' even under the best of circumstances.

Reynolds had nothing but praise for Carpenter. She gives the group a full hour on stage, and he said she hand-picked The Mavericks for her tour because it was important to her to have an opening act she believed in. ``I'm thankful that was us,'' he said.

It's a match that makes sense, too. Both Carpenter and The Mavericks are ``not absolutely dead center commercial country music,'' Reynolds said.

The Mavericks have been described as Roy Orbison-meets-Buck Owens, borrowing elements from rockabilly, honky-tonk country, Texas twang and even Cuban folk music. The group comes from an unlikely setting for a country band - Miami - and it is fronted by a first-generation Cuban American singer, Raul Malo.

All of which seems at odds with the usual parochial standards of Nashville.

The band formed in 1989 and signed with MCA Records in 1991. Its debut album, ``From Hell To Paradise,'' was released in 1992 and, with its songs about politics and social inequality, it received virtually no airplay.

But the band changed gears with more songs about romance and heartbreak for its 1994 release, ``What a Crying Shame.'' Although the album didn't produce a single that reached higher than 18 on the country charts, it has sold more than a million copies.

The Mavericks' next album, tentatively titled ``Music For All Occasions,'' is scheduled for release in September. Reynolds said he expects it to build on the momentum started by ``What a Crying Shame.''

He also said it is comforting to know and to plan what the next year or more will be like. There will be 90 dates with Mary-Chapin Carpenter, videos to shoot, singles to promote and talk shows to appear on.

``It sort of extends the life of the band,'' he explained.

Besides Reynolds, 33, and Malo, the other Mavericks are guitarist Nick Kane and drummer Paul Deakin. Reynolds said that all of them have their different roles in the group dynamic. He oversees the group's image and promotions, picking publicity pictures and album art. Malo is the group's musical visionary. Deakin takes care of the business end of things, and Kane, who joined the group after ``What a Crying Shame'' was recorded, is still learning his place in the band.

``It's an interesting little society that a band becomes,'' Reynolds said.

He spoke on the day before his wife of a year, country star Trisha Yearwood, was to perform on ``The Late Show with David Letterman.'' Reynolds, whose Mavericks also have appeared on the show, said doing Letterman and spending time in New York is always fun. He and Yearwood were planning to see a photography exhibit by a friend who shoots pictures for Rolling Stone magazine.

Reynolds also was excited about the release of the new Ron Howard/Tom Hanks movie, ``Apollo 13.'' The Mavericks contributed a version of the standard ``Blue Moon'' to the soundtrack and got to work with producer Nick Lowe on the song.

He said the group gets asked to contribute to movie projects and tribute albums all the time. The band also recently cut ``True Love Ways'' for an upcoming Buddy Holly tribute.

The group turns down most of these offers, Reynolds said. But he joked that the band might call its next album: ``A Tribute to the Mavericks.''

The Mavericks: Tonight at 7:30 in the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium. Tickets $10.80 and $17.50 through the box office (981-1201), Ticketmaster and charge-by-phone (343-8100). Mark Morrison's review will appear in Saturday's Extra section.