NB: Well, as I suggested
earlier on in the programme, you never know who you are going to meet.
It's not necessarily the runners and riders of the Awards show who are
here, a lot of people I'm seeing are old friends. One of those is
Raul Malo from the Mavericks, who has joined us. Raul, what brings you
along?
RM: Well, I think the
free beer brings me along to the Awards show! No, actually it's a great
place to see the old buddies, we don't get to see one other... People
think that just because you live in Nashville you get to see all your friends
all the time, but no, everybody's working, everybody's touring and you
never see any of your old pals, so I came out to hang out.
NB: How are the Mavericks
coping with their low nominations in this year's Awards?
RM: Oh, we're doing just
fine actually, we're OK with it, you know. It's..they've never been that
important to us, just because music is a much more special thing than an
awards show and any particular award. We've been lucky to win a couple
in the past and I'm grateful and right there that's more than most people
ever get, so in a sense, you know, its not like I feel weird about it at
all I'm relieved, I'm glad somebody has the pressure to answer questions
this year and all that stuff.
NB: It is a pressure
isn't it?
RM: Yeah it does put
on a.... you know you can't really enjoy yourself that much, you know,
and this year, you know, I'm just having a ball.
NB: And we're getting
very excited about this tour that you've got planned starting October 19th
in the UK. Not the Mavericks, but you with, with whom...?
RM: Well I'm gonna be
playing acoustically and I'm gonna be doing some songs that people have
heard, some that they haven't, some of my favourite covers. Kim Richey
is going to be joining me, yeah, she's going to be opening up the shows
and she'll be playing her set, and then we'll probably do a couple of duets
together and whatnot, and its a lot of fun. During the Mavericks shows
there's a part in the performance where we break it down and I do a couple
of songs acoustically and I always get asked by fans 'why don't you do
more?', 'why don't you do a show like that?' Because here in Nashville
there's a place called the Bluebird that's kind of a haven for songwriters
and the shows are real intimate and you can tell stories about the songs
and that kind of thing, and fans really get a kick out of it and this tour
just came about just really from fans requesting it and that kind of thing
so we were like 'alright, we'll just go out and do it'.
NB: I've heard some rumours
about songs you are covering, like a Peter and Gordon song! I thought they
were long dead and buried, those songs.
RM: Well they were and
then, you know, somebody suggested 'you know, maybe you guys should do
this song' and we took a listen to it and we were like 'yeah well let's
do it this way' so we changed it around a little bit, kind of made it more
fit our style, but it still is a great song
NB: Which one is it?
RM: World Without Love
NB: It is a good song.
It is a great song.
RM: It's written by McCartney,
Lennon & McCartney, so I mean it's not too bad a song. It really worked
out well. I like the version that we did, it's quite different.
NB: We're looking forward
to it. Have a good time tonight and we're looking forward to seeing you
next month
RM: Thanks, thank you