Country Music Blog: Raul Malo

Some of country music's top songwriters converged last week in Key West, Fla., for the 13th annual Key West Songwriters Festival, where they played free shows in the town's various nightspots and watering holes along Duval Street. The tiny island was overrun with tourists and festival attendees who jam-packed the venues for dancing and late night sing-alongs.With so many people around doing what vacationing, sometimes intoxicated people do, I found it difficult to stay focused on the music at times. However, there were a few ticketed shows at the Hog's Breath Writer's Room and the Tropic Theater, where Jeffrey Steele, Chuck Cannon, Kim Richey, Raul Malo, Robert Earl Keen, Kylie Sackley and other professional tunesmiths played shows with a Bluebird Café vibe and attentive crowd. I know these songwriters love it when artists like Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes, Montgomery Gentry and Faith Hill record their songs, but personally, I always prefer to hear the songs straight from the creator's mouth. The music portion of the festival culminated in a street party where Keen and Steele entertained throngs of people strolling along Duval Street.

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I suppose it was only a matter of time until Raul Malo ordered a martini from the stage during his Christmas Party tour last week at the Birchmere near Washington, D.C. I wish I’d thought of it myself, because by then the whole place had turned into a lounge – cozy and intoxicated (if only by Malo’s mellifluous voice). One woman at our table, who told us that she met the band nine years ago as a flight attendant, even carried a tray of shots on stage, which was brightly decorated with palm trees made of Christmas lights. If the Rockettes had suddenly appeared from a side door and fabulously kicked their way across the stage, it wouldn’t have surprised me at all.

Malo is on the road promoting his new album, Marshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites, but he does offer a few non-Christmas songs in his set. When he started crooning “You’re Only Lonely,” my friend turned at me and whispered, “Is this on the Christmas album?!?” (It isn’t.) Surely, there’s no denying that the holidays can bring a twinge of sadness when you’re missing someone. And if you’ve been dumped? It’s Raul to the rescue with a solo acoustic rendition of “Crying,” the Roy Orbison standard that never fails to thrill me. The song on Marshmallow World that I keep returning to is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” because it just sounds so … Christmas-y, I guess. The arrangement is quiet and uncluttered, which is probably the opposite of anyone’s actual experience of being home for Christmas.

There’s no telling how many times I saw Malo’s band, The Mavericks, during their heyday in the 1990s. To this day, they are one of my favorite bands, especially at outdoor festivals. When they briefly reunited in 2003, I didn’t miss any of their Nashville shows. No former bandmates accompanied him on this tour, so the energy level was perhaps a notch or two lower than what you’d find at a Mavericks concert. That’s all right, there’s no room to dance at the Birchmere anyway. But to settle into the holiday season with friends, the music from Marshmallow World blends wonderfully with that steaming cup of (spiked) hot chocolate.

I have a small stack of country Christmas CDs that I always pull out on Thanksgiving morning, and that’s pretty much what I listen to until I put up a new calendar. Luckily, those old-fashioned songs have moved into the digital age, making this the most wonderful time of the year for a holiday music mix. Do you hear what I hear? You can, if you track down this playlist:

“Christmas in Dixie,” Alabama
“A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Alan Jackson
“Shimmy Down the Chimney,” Alison Krauss
“Feliz Navidad,” Billy Joe Shaver
“Rockin’ Little Christmas,” Carlene Carter
 “Frosty the Snowman,” Dan Tyminski
“Silent Night,” Dolly Parton
“Light of the Stable,” Emmylou Harris
“Merry Christmas Strait to You,” George Strait
“Silver Bells,” Joe Nichols
“O Holy Night,” John Berry
“The First Noel,” Josh Turner
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Kelly Willis
“My Holiday,” Mindy Smith
“O Come All Ye Faithful,” Patty Loveless
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Raul Malo
“O Christmas Tree,” Rhonda Vincent
“Christmas Time is Here,” Shawn Colvin
“Two-Step ‘Round the Christmas Tree,” Suzy Bogguss
“Making Plans,” Tim O’Brien
“The Christmas Song,” Trisha Yearwood
“All I Want for Christmas is You,” Vince Vance and the Valiants
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” Wynonna

I know you’ve heard these songs many times, many ways, but these are the renditions I prefer. In particular, Kelly Willis’ version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has just the right twinge of sadness – but not as much as the original version. Next time you complain about Christmas, remember that opening line. May your day be merry and bright.

So, I'm sitting in Florence, Italy, at a train station waiting to board a train to go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I'm on the phone with my dad, and I guess the guy sitting next to me was doing a little eavesdropping, because when I got off the phone, he asked, "Where you from, girl?" I said, "Florence, Italy," trying to be funny. He said, "Unh unh! Well, your accent don't come from here!" DUH! I told him I was kidding, and that I was from Texas, and he said he was from Tennessee, so we started talking. He asked why I was over here. I told him I was doing a tour with my band, but we were on a break, so I decided to come to Italy to see the sights.

As we were talking about our mutual love for country music, he just out of the blue says, "Hey, you heard of The Wrights?" Well, Shannon and Adam are friends of mine so I was completely blown away and immediately text messaged Shannon to tell her! It was so cool! He told me he saw them a long time ago and had been following them for a while now. He said, "You wanna talk about thick accents, man, Shannon's got herself a real good one." They are two of the most down-to-earth and talented people I have ever met. They wrote their first record together and it's stellar! I met them last year backstage when they opened for Raul Malo and we have just become friends!

Here's a pic of me at the Leaning Tower! It was so cool!