Raul Malo: His arresting voice captivates sold-out Jane Pickens Theater

In the second of a dozen-city tour, Raul Malo dropped into the Jane Pickens Theater as part of a Showcase Live Production before a sold-out audience.

Malo has been featuring Monica Rizzio as a warm-up act, inviting her for a duet at the show’s close. As the incomparable frontman of genre-defying, GRAMMY Award-winning band The Mavericks and the sole writer of many of their songs, his total sense of comfort on the stage immediately puts one at ease.

When not fronting the band, Malo delights in doing these solo performances where he says he’s always learning and is “not hiding behind anything”. His repertoire is vast and is not scheduled beforehand. Working from a binder of printed material he chooses depending on the mood and notes he is open to requests but that does not guarantee that he will perform it. He added that when people shout en masse, all he hears is, “Raul, you’re awesome! Play whatever you want”. This became the running exchange of the evening. He did play many of the songs he’s best known for including “Back In Your Arms Again” and “Here Comes the Rain,” written on the Takamine gut string guitar he had in performance. He later invited his eldest son, Dino, to join him on percussion and thrilled with Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” but was completely arresting with his favorite song (today) as a closer: Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” from 1927. This delivery was sublime and on another level by any measure.

Malo graciously afforded What’s Up Newp a visit after the program and spoke of the new album “Moon and Stars” that drops on May 17th and includes a tour beginning in Europe. One of his favorite songs from the new album evolved from a newscast shortly after Ukraine was bombed. The story and the song tell of an elderly woman whose husband had died in the bombing but whose house remained. She pointed out in the newscast as she showed the living room, “here is where we would dance” with a dancing gesture, arm outstretched. Malo explains he “bawled” as he saw this news piece and marveled at this woman: “a testament to strength, resilience and resistance”. The song “And We Dance” embraces her indefatigable spirit. Malo suggested that “we could use her in our Congress”.
Ironically, with so much music to discuss our conversation turned to politics, perhaps not unlike most of the populous in this time. Malo remains hopeful for the future election and, as a first-generation immigrant, addressed the border situation, suggesting that “instead of a wall, we build a mirror so that we can see what we have become.”

As our visit concluded, it was time to return to the hotel and get ready for the trip to Tarrytown, NY, where he would play on Sunday night. It was a delight to spend some time with Raul Malo, a wonderful man with a very inviting, knowledgeable demeanor and a fabulous gift of vocal brilliance. Be sure to grab the new recording in May and catch The Mavericks at Indian Ranch in Webster, MA, on June 22, 2024.

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All photos by Jack Casey/What’sUpNewp