The return of the ‘lost’ Maverick

When Robert Reynolds lost, he lost big, and hit the bottom of a well so deep and dry he thought he’d probably never scratch his way out.

As a founding member of the progressive country band the Mavericks, Reynolds was living the good life – gold and platinum records, cross-country tours, big money and lots of music industry back-patting, gladhanding and perks. He was married to superstar Trisha Yearwood for five years.

It was 2014 when his bandmates unceremoniously fired him because of his escalating dependence on opiates. They did it in public, too. “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen as far as addiction,” the band’s big-voiced lead singer Raul Malo told Rolling Stone. “He’s far gone.”

The water under that particular bridge has been swift and muddy. The Mavericks carried on with a new guy, but Malo, after a brave fight, died of intestinal cancer last December.

Drummer Paul Deakin, the last remaining co-founder, rallied the band to honor Malo and his legacy with The Mavericks and Friends tour, which visits Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall Saturday (Sept. 12).

Vocalists James Otto and Emily West will take turns singing Malo’s best-known songs.

And right up there onstage, for every show on the tour, will be clean and sober Robert Reynolds.

Early days: Pail Deakin, left Raul Malo, Robert Reynolds and David Lee Holt. MCA Records publicity photo.

“I don’t begrudge how they were feeling,” Reynolds says, “because it’s not their job to ensure that I take the right path. They did make every effort to see that I would, but if I couldn’t find it myself there was nothing that anybody could do.”

He and his second wife moved to a small town in Indiana, and Robert helped restore an old house, started painting as a hobby and didn’t take his guitar out its case. Reynolds says he discovered “a manageable life.” For 10 years, he didn’t talk to Malo or Deakin.

Once he got clean, he says, his muse returned, and new songs began to flow. He started a little local band and played a dozen shows a year.

“Addiction becomes a fulltime job, if you are truly down that dark path as deep as I was,” Reynolds muses. “A lot of my heroes either died or survived, and I guess I wanted to be on the survivors list. I had a lot to live for. I had already lost a lot, so it was time to step up.”

Then something happened that no one expected. “Paul and I got close again. Paul and I were best friends, and had been before the band.”

It started with a text of condolence from Deakin, after Reynolds’ brother Christopher died. They soon met for lunch, and “it was just like picking up where we left off. It was fantastic.

“But in the year since Paul and I had reunited, Raul’s health was precarious and getting markedly worse. Paul would keep me up to speed, and he knew I wanted to see Rally – that’s my nickname for him, since we were young guys.”

A reunion, at Malo’s home in Nashville, was brokered by drummer Deakin. “Paul called and said ‘I talked to Raul, and he would really like to see you, too.’”

It was 2024. “I got down there while Raul was still really, really sharp,” Reynolds recalls. “He was dealing with a lot of physical changes, some paralysis in his speech and face … but we had great times together.

“And it made me feel really, really restored personally. To bring us back together was to fix a lot of old hurts and such.”

Time, it would seem, really does heal all wounds. “I know Raul had given up on me for some of that time, but not entirely. He said ‘Bob, you know I just worried about you. It’s so good to see you well again, and whole again. That’s all I ever wanted for you.’”

READ MORE: The Catalyst interview: Raul Malo of the Mavericks

Musicians on the Mavericks and Friends tour, alongside Deakin and Reynolds, are guitarist Eddie Perez, keyboard player Jerry Dale McFadden and bassist Scotty Huff, who will play on late-era Mavericks songs (while Reynolds adds acoustic guitar). Reynolds will play bass on songs from the band’s early records. And add harmonies.

Otto and West will sing the highlights of a rich catalog, including “What a Crying Shame,” “Dance the Night Away,” “There Goes My Heart” and “All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down.”

When Deakin extended the invitation to perform on the tribute-to-Raul tour (subtitled “The Music Lives On”), Reynolds says he honestly had to think about it. He has a part-time job as a music instructor at a local charter school.

“I’m a different guy. I’m not the young rock ‘n’ roll guy that I was, and I don’t long for the long days on the road. I’m dedicated to my life. We had to work out those details.”

Work them out they did. And The Mavericks & Friends is scheduled as a two-year project.

“I’ll stay as long as they’ll have me,” Reynolds says. “Because I’m figuring out there’s a way to do this and balance my personal needs. Because everybody’s grown up.”

Tickets for the Sept. 12 concert can be found at this link.