Rick Malis

Veteran singer-songwriter Rick Malis honky-tonks with Pittsburgh's favorite neo-traditional country and western swing band, The Mavens. His new solo release ?Blue and Broken Hearted? is a collection of original tunes featuring tasty twang, sultry swing, bluesly bluegrass, and acoustic Americana. Sounding both fresh and classic it's a fusion of the Hard Travelin' Americana styles that Rick's been playing for the last twenty five years.

Illustrated with country blues, high and lonesome bluegrass, and slow sad ballads his colorful lyrics and plaintive voice paint a wistful whimsical view of the world. If you're are a fan of John Prine, Roy Acuff, Hank Williams, or Bob Wills the music of Rick Malis will delight you.

According to Rick, ?I've been listening to a lot of essential American music over the last few years and I really think that had a huge influence on this new collection of songs. There seems to be a common rootsy, blues form and feel to most of the material.? Rick produced the new collection with stellar guitar player, producer engineer, Doug Wilken and got a lot of help from Maven's bandmates Pete Freeman on pedal steel and dobro, Jeff Berman on drums and percussion, Mark Evans on mandolin, Dog Run Boy, Don Shean on fiddle and banjo, and Pittsburgh-based musicians, Gerry Borish on acoustic bass, and Don Bishkoff on the cello. "Blue and Broken Hearted" is Malis' third solo CD.