The Mavericks

The Read

Raul Malo died in December 2025 of the colon cancer he had been public about since 2024, and the band he had fronted for more than three decades decided the songs should keep moving. They tour now as The Mavericks & Friends. Paul Deakin is on drums, Eddie Perez still plays the guitar parts, Jerry Dale McFadden is on keys, and founding bassist Robert Reynolds has come back after leaving in 2014. The singing goes to guest vocalists who change from one city to the next, and nobody is being installed as the new Malo. Eddie Perez has said that Malo came to believe the music no longer belonged to the band and belonged instead to the people who turn up for it, which is the case these shows are making. What has not changed is that this is a dance band booked into a seated hall, and the horns and the Tex-Mex swing have not gone anywhere. Guests differ from night to night, so the second show will not be a repeat of the first.

The Venue

Ryman Auditorium

116 5th Ave N

The best-sounding hall in American music. A riverboat captain built it as a tabernacle in 1892, the pews are the originals, and artists talk about getting to play here the way athletes talk about a title.

Also playing

The same booking at Ryman Auditorium, 2 dates in all.

• Fri Dec 4 · this one
• Sat Dec 5