DOORS 6PM • SHOWTIME 7PM
Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre • Basie Center Campus • 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank
The Mavericks have always been explorers.
For decades, they’ve created the kind of multicultural Americana that reaches far beyond America itself, blending their favorite stateside sounds — including rock & roll, country, and R&B — with Tex-Mex twang, Cuban rhythms, Jamaican ska, and other Latin influences. The exploration continues with Moon & Stars, a progressive album that finds Raul Malo and company continuing to push the envelope, exploring the outer orbits of an organic, otherworldly sound that remains entirely their own.
“This record took us to places we’ve never gone before,” says frontman, co-producer, and chief songwriter Malo, whose voice — a booming baritone that continues to age like top-shelf whiskey and fine leather, becoming richer and more pliable with each album — remains one of the band’s calling cards. “It’s a collection of tales from the universe. We’ve traveled around the world, gathering new stories and new sounds, and this is what we have to show for it. Moon & Stars is our cosmic energy put into practice.”
On “Moon & Stars’’ 11 songs, The Mavericks are larger than life: not only musically, but literally, too, thanks to an expanded roster that features a three-part horn section, an accordionist, and a guest list stocked with powerhouse singers like Nicole Atkins, Maggie Rose, and Sierra Ferrell. Songs like the album’s tropical title track prove there’s strength in numbers, with Ferrell and Malo piling their voices into thickly-stacked harmonies over a Cuban charanga groove. Rose appears on “Look Around You,” an album highlight that splits the difference between timeless country-soul and classic R&B. Saxophonist Max Abrams takes centerstage on “Here You Come Again” to channel the steamy 1980s textures of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper,” while Atkins adds sauce and swagger to “Live Close By (Visit Often),” a roadhouse roots-rocker whose horn arrangement nods to the influence of Stax Records and Muscle Shoals.
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