{"id":2201411,"date":"2025-12-16T15:42:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2201411"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:42:15","slug":"holiday-music-picks-with-raul-malo-and-mavericks-reissues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/holiday-music-picks-with-raul-malo-and-mavericks-reissues\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday music picks with Raul Malo and Mavericks reissues"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With holiday season heading into the home stretch, the time is completely correct for seasonal sounds that stray from the usual overcooked pop or country variations on expected season sentiment. But in compiling my annual list of last-minute holiday music selections \u2014 split evenly between welcomed reissues from the past and new releases for the year at hand \u2014 something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n

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Just after assembling the list last week came word that the only artist to appear on it twice has left us. Raul Malo, the cross-cultural baritone that served as the voice of The Mavericks for over three decades, died on Dec. 8 after an extended battle with cancer. Two Malo entries figured into these selections \u2014 a 2018 outing with The Mavericks titled \u201cHey! Merry Christmas!\u201d and a 2007 solo album, \u201cMarshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites,\u201d cut during a time when The Mavericks had disbanded.<\/p>\n

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\"The <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
The Mavericks, including the late Raul Malo, with Eddie Perez, Jerry Dale McFadden and Paul Deakin in the background, recorded one of our music writer\u2019s favorite classic Christmas albums. Malo also recorded a solo Christmas album that also is a favorite. Alejandro Menendez <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Malo\u2019s passing doesn\u2019t diminish the emotional charm of either record. Both stand as holiday works marked by hearty levels of cultural curiosity and celebration buoyed by the music\u2019s wild stylistic breath. Let\u2019s allow let Malo\u2019s boundless vocal cheer to lead this list recommended sounds to help us navigate these final, crazy days before Christmas arrives.<\/p>\n

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CLASSIC<\/h2>\n

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The Mavericks, Hey! Merry Christmas! (2018)<\/h2>\n

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The Mavericks, Hey! Merry Christmas! <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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The last of the Mavericks\u2019 three incarnations, which fell into place in 2011, fully embraced a Raul Malo vision that drew on a vigorous mix of Cuban inspiration, Tex Mex, pop, soul, rock and more. \u201cHey! Merry Christmas!\u201d was released in the middle of that run with a highly rhythmic, roots-driven charge led by Malo\u2019s richly jubilant vocals. A complete holiday party of an album. Favorite track: A sly, jazzy original titled \u201cSanta Wants to Take You for a Ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Raul Malo, Marshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites (2007)<\/h2>\n

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\"Raul <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
Raul Malo, Marshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Recorded between the last two of the Mavericks\u2019 three lifetimes when Malo worked as a solo artist, this now out-of-print (but still very stream-able) album opens as a traditional pop work that closes off the singer\u2019s wilder stylistic leanings. All roads open after that, though, from tunes bold and brassy to organically intimate works. Favorite tracks: a tango take on \u201cSilver Bells\u201d and a ukulele revision of \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d that is whistled instead of sung.<\/p>\n

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Booker T and the MGs, In the Christmas Spirit (1966)<\/h2>\n

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\"Booker <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
Booker T and the MGs, In the Christmas Spirit <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Here we have another giant who departed this month \u2014 guitarist Steve Cropper. He was never as prevalent in the make-up of this exquisite seasonal chill pill of an album as Malo was with The Mavericks\u2019 music, but that was a defining part of Cropper\u2019s art. He was more a musical architect than a showboat soloist. Fortified by Booker T. Jones\u2019 sublime organ work, \u201cIn the Christmas Spirit\u201d offers a pool of cultural cool to dip into when holiday madness gets too extreme.<\/p>\n

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John Fahey, The New Possibility (1968)<\/h2>\n

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John Fahey, The New Possibility <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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My four favorite holiday albums remain Vince Guaraldi\u2019s vanguard soundtrack to \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas,\u201d producer Phil Spector\u2019s wall-of-sound pop masterwork \u201cA Christmas Gift for You,\u201d the aforementioned Booker T and the MGs gem \u201cIn the Christmas Spirit\u201d and this wonderful set of carols set by John Fahey to rustic settings for solo acoustic guitar that sound exquisitely antique and unvarnished. A jolt of holiday spirit served with zero frills or forced sentiment.<\/p>\n

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JD McPherson, Socks (2018)<\/h2>\n

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\"JD <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
JD McPherson, Socks <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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JD McPherson is a true rock \u2018n\u2019 roll journeyman, one who understands the swagger that fuels most roots-savvy traditions. You hear that in his guitarwork, in the sly cut of his vocals and especially in his playful sense of songcraft. All of that abounds on \u201cSocks,\u201d one of the finest slabs of original rock \u2018n\u2019 roll Christmas tunes in recent memory. You experience that blend within the twang of \u201cBad Kid,\u201d the animated croon of \u201cUgly Sweater Blues\u201d and the brassy swing\/sing-a-long of \u201cHey Skinny Santa!\u201d<\/p>\n

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NEW<\/h2>\n

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Old Crow Medicine Show, OCMS XMAS<\/h2>\n

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Old Crow Medicine Show, OCMS XMAS <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Fiddler Ketch Secor and his Old Crow string music renegades present a set of 11 original holiday tunes of varying sentiment, from the throwdown hoedown drive of \u201cBreakin\u2019 Up Xmas\u201d to the cheery New England themed \u201cNorth By Northeast,\u201d along with a pair of sterling covers. Among the latter: An old-world acoustic take on John Lennon\u2019s immortal \u201cHappy Xmas (War is Over)\u201d where the seasonal sentiments are placed in proper, worldly perspective.<\/p>\n

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Various Artists, The Chess Records Christmas Album<\/h2>\n

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Various Artists, The Chess Records Christmas Album <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Well, the music isn\u2019t exactly new, but the compilation is. \u201cThe Chess Records Christmas Album\u201d mines 14 tunes covering the famed Chicago roots music label\u2019s 75-year history. You get the brassy vocal glee of The Moonglows\u2019 \u201cHey Santa Claus,\u201d the lean jazzy cheer of the Ramsey Lewis Trio\u201ds \u201cChristmas Blues\u201d and the churchy orchestral flow of guitarist Kenny Burrell\u2019s take on \u201cSilent Night.\u201d A splendid holiday time capsule of an album.<\/p>\n

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Herb Alpert, Christmas Time is Here<\/h2>\n

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\"Herb <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
Herb Alpert, Christmas Time is Here <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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At age 90, trumpeter, bandleader and all-around music entrepreneur Herb Alpert serves up a dozen holiday staples with the same sense of contemporary cool that has marked his career since the 1960s. Make no mistake, this is slick, keenly produced and commercial conscious music, but there is also a sense of reserve at work. Alpert stays true to his own sound, avoiding more cloying, modernistic intrusions. In short, his music and his style hasn\u2019t aged a bit.<\/p>\n

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Various Artists, Verve \/\/ Remixed Holiday<\/h2>\n

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\"Verve <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
Verve \/\/ Remixed Holiday <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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The second holiday album in an ongoing series of releases that remix vintage music from the Verve Records catalog should be approached with caution. Those with unwavering ties to holiday classics by Ella Fitzgerald, Nine Simone, Louis Armstrong and others might see this as heresy. But the imagination flowing behind some of these mixes, like an electronica dance floor rewiring of Ella\u2019s \u201cWe Three Kings,\u201d might just awaken a whole new audience to this music.<\/p>\n

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The Sarahbanda, Cuban Christmas<\/h2>\n

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\"The <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
The Sarahbanda, Cuba Christmas <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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What do you get when a French horn player from the Berlin Philharmonic, in this case Sarah Willis, mixes mambos for a no-frills take on Cuban-slanted Christmas music? You wind up with The Sarahbanda. This will likely be the sunniest set of holiday tunes to hit your ears this season. Especially, intriguing are two \u201cNutcracker\u201d works transposed to Cuban settings \u2014 specifically, the gliding dance sway of a reimagined \u201cDance of the Sugar Plum Fairy\u201d and timbale-fueled \u201cTrepak.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Lexington Herald Leader<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kentucky.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With holiday season heading into the home stretch, the time is completely correct for seasonal sounds that stray from the usual overcooked pop or country variations on expected season sentiment. But in compiling my annual list of last-minute holiday music selections \u2014 split evenly between welcomed reissues from the past and new releases for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2201412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[398773,363630,420942,359353,359354],"class_list":["post-2201411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-chess-records","tag-christmas-music","tag-holiday-albums","tag-raul-malo","tag-the-mavericks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Holiday-music-picks-with-Raul-Malo-and-Mavericks-reissues.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2201411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2201413,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201411\/revisions\/2201413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2201412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2201411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2201411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2201411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}