The Mavericks have not exactly been lying around for four years plotting their next step.

For starters, lead singer and writer Raul Malo put out a Latin-influenced solo album in 2001, toured behind it and produced albums for other artists.

Bassist Robert Reynolds worked on other projects including a side band, and drummer Paul Deakin also was tied up with musical endeavors.

But now The Mavericks along with new guitarist Eddie Perez are back with a new, self-titled album on a new label.

And as has been the case for the feisty Mavericks, this band is not strictly country, but explores various elements including The Beatles, some Latin sounds, rock, roots and country.

So why get together now after what was at varying times deemed a band on hiatus or a band in music heaven?"In between recording my solo record and touring and producing Rick's (Trevino) record, I had this batch of songs, that at the end of the day sounded like a Mavs record," says Malo in a telephone interview from his hotel room in Austin, Texas. "The process was the same. Now we're going back because the music sounds like a Mavs record."

The 11-song disc was recorded in May. The timing was good for Malo's band mates. Deakin and Reynolds were in between touring with Kevin Montgomery.

"It worked out to be perfect timing for everyone," says Malo, a Miami native.

For Malo, who usually does all of the songwriting on Mavs albums with non-band members, the music resulted from wanting to "write songs that were meaningful to me in a real personal sort of way. I set out to write songs about whatever I set to write about instead of love or love gone bad. There is some of that on the album."

But Malo focuses on another aspect of the album - songs that question the state of the world.

"The songs kind of reflect that yearning - the wanting of the answers or certain answers or wanting a guideline perhaps. No one has the all the answers. No one does. I think most thinking people think that. You can be guided toward the answers."

When Malo started thinking about the new Mavericks recording, he said from a songwriting standpoint, "There are songs that really pertain to situations in our world right now and what is happening. I wanted to ask questions, questions to our leaders, local leaders, national leaders, our president, our congressmen, our representative, and I think even our religious leaders. There are songs on there like 'Shine Your Light' with everything that's gone on in the church as of late the last couple of years that has really blown my mind. I've never gone through anything like that personally, but I know people who have, and it's terrible. If you can't get guidance from the people who are there to give you that guidance, then who are you going to get it from?"

The questioning starts from the get go with the first single and opening song, "I Want to Know." Almost every line in the song starts with those words. Among the things that the 38-year-old Malo wants to know is "what promises to keep, how guilty people sleep, why the devil's not run dry, why politicians lie, if all you need is love."

And that launches Malo into perhaps the most political diatribe this side of Natalie Maines, though with far more thought.

"'I Want to Know' is based on a lot of things that we're going through right now as a culture, as a society as a nation," says Malo. "It touches on several things, and you can apply that to any number of debacles. WorldCom. Enron. This war on Iraq, 9/11. What led to 9/11. We want to know. I think I'm not the only one who really wants answers. I really want to know why we went to Iraq especially after they said they said there were ties to Al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction of which they have found none. I want to know the real reasons we have gone there. I want to know why none of their kids have gone to war. The Republicans have beat this drum so hard over the years, and no one in that administration has served in the military, but they all were quick to point out Clinton's draft dodging. They never served anywhere."

Don't accuse Malo of ever being a friend of George W.

"Let's not even touch upon the (2000) election," says the Florida native, who now lives in Nashville, adding, "I think they have managed to wrap themselves up in the flag, and it's kind of shielded them. People have stopped asking questions, and the media has just gone to bed. No one's asking tough questions any more."

"We've managed to squander whatever good will there was to the US after 9/11," says Malo.

Malo says his thinking has changed over time. "It's funny because I sound like such a freaking bleeding heart liberal, and I've never been one," says Malo, who registered Republican when he grew up in Miami. His family escaped Cuba three years before he was born. "It's amazing that this administration has managed to (do) this. I can't help but say something because I'm frightened for my kids. I'm frightened for their future."

Malo has children ages 3, 6 and 7.

For the first time, Malo will hold a Democratic fundraiser at his Tennessee party for the state party. "I've never done that before, but I think these are desperate times. I can't let the system run amuck with good intentions."

"Would You Believe" takes a look at the environment. The song says, "It started 16 billion years ago/It's hard to conceive/we'd lose it all and then where would we go/find another place where they don't know the human race."

"It's about what we're doing to this planet on a large scale," says Malo of the song. "The planet is not that big. It really isn't. We don't have, we can't keep coming up with landfills and garbage dumps, the emissions. Right now, this administration is basically allowing the power plants to renew their gear without having to meet EPA standards. You're going 'what the hell are they doing?' It's one thing after another. Who makes these decisions and why? We know why - because it benefits them one way or another. It's all the special interest groups and the lobby. The manipulation of the truth is unparalleled. It's incredible."

"I don't want to get in this doomsday conversation. We can make a difference. Next time people go to the ballot and give their precious vote that people have died for through the years, that we have sacrificed so much to attain that vote, people have to really be aware of what they are voting for and not because their cousins voted for it or their parents voted for it or their brothers and sisters voted for it."While Malo may have had very clear ideas about what he wanted to do with the album lyrically, the sound is a different story as usual.

"Sonically, I think like most Mavericks records when we approach them, we don't quite know what's going to be. We just kind of get in there and whatever happens and works best at the moment, that's what is on the record. I wish it were a little more thought out and a little more planned. We like it that way. We leave it open for interpretation when we get in there. That's how we go about it."

"That's kind of the way we like to go about it," he says with a laugh. "We don't plan too much of anything. We kind of let it all happen."

Like a slew of albums lately, Willie Nelson shows up to sing "Time Goes By" with Malo. Why not? After all, he's done it lately for the likes of Toby Keith and Dwight Yoakam.

"We were in the same studio, Ocean Way in Nashville," says Malo of The Mavs and Nelson.

"We went and had a sit down with the godfather and asked him if he wanted to sing on the song," says Malo. "I knew if he heard the song, I had a feeling he would dig it. I've known Willie for years, and we've always talked about doing something together. I knew lyrically he'd get into it, and it made sense."

"The song sounds like something he and Waylon would have done together 20 years ago. I played it for him, and he dug it. We had to send him the tapes...and he did it (in Texas). We knew exactly what it would sound like. It's Willie Nelson. Man, if he doesn't know how to do it a lot..."

"He's the last one of an era," says Malo talking shortly after the passing of Johnny Cash. Turning obviously morbid, Malo says, "I don't even want to think about it. Of all of them, I've known Willie the most. Waylon wasn't that accessible of a guy. Even though I was a huge Waylon fan, I never got to hang with him very much. Johnny, I got to meet. We were the house band for a CMT (tribute concert about four years ago)."

"But Willie, I've gotten to hang with on many occasions thankfully. He's it. It's almost like you get a sense that everyone wants to (record with him), I know it sounds kind of morbid, but it's kind of interesting that everybody's going after it (recording with Nelson). They should. Man, how great is he?"

"We wrote that song awhile ago, but after we heard it and demoed it, (we thought) it would be cool to have Willie on this. But we didn't really think about. I wasn't kidding (when I said) we don't plan much of anything. Here we were in the studio, and Willie's in the studio. Okay, this is a sign."

Like most Mavericks albums, Malo either wrote songs solo or with a few compadres like Rick Trevino, Allen Miller and Jeff Hanna.

The bond of Malo with Reynolds and Deakin is a long one. Reynolds and Deakin were already working together, when Malo joined their group in Miami.

They raised enough money to put out an indie album on Y & T Records in 1990 (Malo pretty much dismisses the album today, "It wasn't that good," he says).

But the album gained attention from others, including powers that be in Nashville.

The group played for several Nashville labels and signed in 1991 with MCA, which put out its first disc, "From Here to Eternity" shortly thereafter. The title track was an early foray into politics - a family tale of leaving Cuba behind. The disc's sound had a far more traditional country bent than the sound into which the band would evolve. The band mixed a traditional country sound with echoes of the 1960's and Roy Orbison, who Malo often has recalled.

The album yielded but one single, Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'," but it barely cracked the charts at all.

Things changed with 1994's "What a Crying Shame" with songs like "O What a Thrill," "There Goes My Heart" and the title track gaining airplay.

The album went platinum, selling more than 1 million copies.

During this period, Reynolds married one of country's leading singers, Trisha Yearwood, although the two would eventually divorce. Reynolds just remarried.

"Music for All Occasions" came out in 1995 with a few more hits, including "Here Comes the Rain" and "All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down." The Mavs, which now included Nick Kane, who replaced original guitarist David Lee Holt, were straying away from their honky tonk country sound, becoming a bit more experimental. To wit, a duet between Malo and Yearwood on "Something Stupid," the old Nancy Sinatra hit.

The Mavs were doing quite well, capturing the 1995 and 1996 vocal group award from the Country Music Association.

And then came an album that really broke the mold, 1998's "Trampoline." The album was a real musical potpourri with Latin sounds, country, rock and pop.

While the group continued to be quite successful in Europe, the album did not do well at all in the U.S. Their relationship with MCA ended, and they inked with Mercury, releasing only "Super Colossal Smash Hits of the 90's," a greatest hits plus package.

"That's part of the problem of being signed to a major label in Nashville. When you venture outside the box, you're pretty much sealing your fate," says Malo.

The band was soon on hiatus, although at one point, it was thought they broke up.

Why go on hiatus?"The easiest answer and you might think this is BS, the truth of it is I guide myself - whatever I'm going to do next - I'm guided by the creative process," says Malo. "At the time of the hiatus, I had this album, this pseudo Latin, very ethnic sounding, very Cuban sounding album's worth of songs that I knew wasn't going to work for The Mavs. I wanted to do this solo record. That was it. There was no way to do this if The Mavs were a continuing entity. We kind of had to put a stop to The Mavs for that reason."

Malo says he could not have done his solo album as a side project.

"With The Mavs, when you've gotten something like the Mavs going full tilt and got 150 (dates) booked a year and x amount of promotion, there's no time to do a solo album. Unless you want to record it in a week, put it out in a month, there's no time to do that. I also wanted to spend time with family."

Malo additionally indicates the band simply needed some time off.

"I think it was (a grind)," he says. "We were on the road pretty much for 10 years...I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because I'm not. I loved the work (but) we were doing the same thing night after night. It didn't feel fun. Music and the creative stuff has to feel fun. It has to give you some sort of pleasure even if it's visceral, even on an emotional way. After awhile, it becomes part of the norm. You have to figure out a way to recharge the batteries. That's exactly what that time period was. I did this whole other music. Doing my solo record and playing with those musicians every night made me appreciate what The Mavs are."

One change, however, was the replacement of Kane, who left in 2000 with Perez joining.

"It wasn't the friendliest of departures to say the least," says Malo. "It wasn't the friendliest of tenures. We didn't get along in any way...It was tolerable to a point."

"When you don't get along, it gets old after awhile," he says.

Malo knew Perez for several years, particularly because he played at Austin's Continental Club with a pick-up band including Perez.

"It was a timing thing really," Malo says. "We talked about doing something together."

Reynolds and Deakin approved Malo's choice, and Perez was aboard.

"I think everybody is in a much better place spiritually and emotionally, and when it becomes a grind and something you have to do, it starts to take away the fun of it and take away the point of why you're a musician. I think now we're doing it because we want to do this and love to do this."

For the return disc, The Mavs signed with Sanctuary, better known for bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Pet Shop Boys and the Allmans.

"We have the freedom and autonomy to do whatever we want creatively, and they just are going to go out and sell it or not sell it. Hopefully it will be all right, but they're not heavy handed in your face. Nobody came by the studio when we were doing this thing."

As for how the album, which came out in late September will do, Malo says, "I think you always not so much worry about, but think about it. I hope it sells a lot. I know it's a good record. I feel confident about it. Just the fact that we made the record is satisfying enough. If it doesn't (sell), I don't think it's going to take away the creative merit that the record deserves. I'm used to selling records. I'm used to not selling records. I've been on both sides. It doesn't take away from the credibility of your work."