The Maddox family walked and rode freight trains from Alabama to California. They came to California with $40 dollars and a dream. They worked the fields and orchards. When they decided to play music, they became the Most Colorful Hillbilly band in California.
I first saw the Maddox Brothers and Rose perform when I was about six years old. I knew who they were because we had a car radio. We listened to our car radio as we drove from one camp to the next, following the crops in the San Joaquin Valley. We knew they were Okies and Hillbillies, just like us. They were who we were, a thing I look back on now, and think, "Well, sure." But at the time it was nothing less than magic, to hear them sing our music.
I met Don Maddox in about 2008, when I joined the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers, chapter 4, in Medford, Oregon. We attended an outdoor meeting at a local park. The group set up a pot-luck dinner for their monthly meeting. When I arrived they were cruising the food table, sitting in chairs and chatting, or standing in a circle, passing the turn from one to the next. At your turn, you would announce your selection and kick it off. After a few bars the circle would jump in.
Don Maddox took his turn as we arrived. I knew immediately who he was, although it was a while before I could believe my ears. I unpacked my guitar and joined the circle.
In the years that ensued, I played in the same group with Don many times. And many times I was the rhythm guitar for his version of Orange Blossom Special. He was a superb showman, but not a flashy one. He delivered great straight lines and had a wicked riposte. He led the group by example. Stagecraft veritably dripped off him, and even the densest among us were better performers for breathing the same air he breathed.
He liked to stand at the end of the group, a bit upstage, and let us amateurs do our thing, while he set his neat chops and incredible fills out to help us move a song along. He knew how to punch up a flagging session. Our audiences loved him. So did I.
Rest in Peace, Don.
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