The Mavericks Say a Founding Member Has Been Fired for Drug Addiction

When Grammy-winning group the Mavericks release their new album Mono on February 17th, they’ll do so without founding member Robert Reynolds. Despite the fact that his name appeared in the liner notes for 2013 reunion album In Time, that was pretty much the case then, as well. According to his now former bandmates, singer Raul Malo, drummer Paul Deakin and guitarist Eddie Perez, who gathered last week in a conference room at the Mavericks’ record label offices in Nashville to speak to Rolling Stone Country and set the record straight, Reynolds is in the grip of an opiate addiction and has been unable to record or tour.

After much discussion and a number of lines drawn in the sand, the Mavericks fired the bassist-vocalist in October. Phone calls and text messages attempting to reach Reynolds for comment for this story were unsuccessful.

From the looks on the men’s faces, the termination of their longtime creative partner and friend was not a decision arrived at lightly or quickly. In fact, Deakin says the issues with Reynolds and his substance-abuse problem date back to just prior to the In Time sessions.

“I knew about it from before the band got back together. There were many signs when he first came back into the studio. I confronted him about it, and he denied,” Deakin tells Rolling Stone Country. “When he finally admitted it, I said, ‘I’m not going to sign these [record] contracts until you go into rehab.’ On three separate occasions we put him in different forms of rehab over the past three years.”

Deakin says he, Malo and Perez — who along with Jerry Dale McFadden make up the four core members of the Mavericks — are choosing to make the intra-band turmoil public for the sake of Reynolds, Reynolds’ wife and the eclectic group’s fans. In October, the band posted a message on its Facebook page that read, “At this moment Robert has chosen to take time to attend to personal matters. We wish him nothing but the best. And we offer our full support to him and his family in this difficult time.” Shortly after, they released a second statement detailing the creation of a fund for Reynolds’ wife Angie, who is battling cancer. Given the timing, many linked the two together.

“We set up, inadvertently, some assumptions,” Deakin admits. “Everybody assumed it was about his wife’s struggle with cancer, when in fact it wasn’t. We let that go, but then the situation got worse and we had to make something more final.”

What transpired is still incomprehensible to Malo.

“We found out he was hitting fans up for money,” says the vocalist, worried about the group’s more ardent and well-heeled followers being bilked out of their savings. “It’s like, man, what if he hits somebody up for five grand, and then they go, ‘Why didn’t you guys tell us anything?’ And now we put this fan in harm’s way and they’re out five grand because we didn’t have the balls to say anything about it.”

“He was using our fan base to reach out and acquire these things,” adds Perez.

“It’s like a starving person will steal,” says Deakin. “They’ll do anything.”

Malo grimaces. “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen as far as addiction,” he says. “He’s far gone.”