July 26, 2018

Maddox Brothers & Rose: America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band

Arhoolie Records CD-391

Format: CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1993
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Country, Rockabilly
[Tracklist]
01 George's Playhouse Boogie (2:45)
02 Midnight Train (3:06)
03 Shimmy Shakin' Daddy (2:11)
04 Careless Driver (2:50)
05 Move It On Over (2:47)
06 Whoa Sailor (2:36)
07 Milk Cow Blues (3:11)
08 Mean And Wicked Boogie (2:40)
09 Brown Eyes (2:58)
10 Honky Tonkin' (2:27)
11 Time Nor Tide (3:09)
12 New Mule Skinner Blues (2:10)
13 Philadelphia Lawyer (3:15)
14 Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down (2:19)
15 When I Lay My Burden Down (2:16)
16 Hangover Blues (2:38)
17 Water Baby Boogie (2:10)
18 Dark As A Dungeon (2:23)
19 Mule Train (2:56)
20 Oklahoma Sweetheart Sally Ann (2:15)
21 Faded Love (2:42)
22 New Step It Up And Go (2:29)
23 (Pay Me) Alimony (2:13)
24 I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again (2:13)
25 Your Love Light Never Shone (2:02)
26 Meanest Man In Town (2:33)
27 I Want To Live And Love (2:05)
[Credits]
Rose Maddox, Don Maddox (vocals) Fred Maddox (bass/vocals) Don Maddox (fiddle) Henry Maddox (mandolin/guitar) Cliff Maddox (mandolin) Cal Maddox (guitar/harmonica) Gene Breeden, Jimmy Winkle, Roy Nichols (guitar) Bud Duncan (steel guitar)
Reissue Producer: Chris Strachwitz, Designer: Wayne Pope, Liner Notes: Keith Olesen
[Notes]
The Maddox Brothers & Rose were America's most colorful hillbilly band all right, and not just because they wore snazzy sequined Western suits that screamed louder than a blast of TNT. Everything they did was at the top of their lungs, from sister Rose's effectively braying twang and tittering, high-pitched asides to the brothers' nuclear-charged postwar fusion of boogie-woogie, Western swing, and California honky-tonk. Most colorful of all was the group's aesthetic--unabashed emotionalism on a poignant gospel ballad such as "When I Lay My Burden Down" alternating with broad comedy displayed on covers of "Milk Cow Blues" and "Honky Tonkin'." "Got a hillbilly band called Maddox and Rose ... [and] they play a boogie-woogie that'll wiggle your toes," Rose guffaws on "George's Playhouse Boogie." Never has such a colorful self-description been so accurate. --David Cantwell

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