America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band

Amazon.com
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

Tracks:

George's Playhouse Boogie
Midnight Train
Shimmy Shakin' Daddy
Careless Driver
Move It On Over
Whoa Sailor
Milk Cow Blues
Mean And Wicked Boogie
Brown Eyes
Honky Tonkin'
Time Nor Tide
New Mule Skinner Blues
Philadelphia Lawyer
Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down
When I Lay My Burden Down
Hangover Blues
Water Baby Boogie
Dark As The Dungeon
Mule Train
Oklahoma Sweetheart Sally Ann
Faded Love
New Step It Up And Go
(Pay Me) Alimony
I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again
Your Love Light Never Shone
Meanest Man In Town
I Want To Live And Love

Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews:

Great band........2007-01-26

I agree with the previous reviewer that the material on her could have been better treated by the record company. This was a really fun, wild, shameless band with a very progressive sound for the time. Theirs is still my favorite rendition of "Water Baby Boogie" and it's essentially rock and roll, ten years early.

A glimpse back.......2006-04-13

Here is one of the most unique "bands" you'll ever hear, playing some of the finest "Rockabilly" before "Rockabilly" existed! I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the "banter" between the musicians and Rose in the middle of the songs, but it is necessary as that was their delivery. With that aside, the Maddox Brothers (and yes, Rose to) were a big influence on Merle Haggard, and any Haggard fan needs this album to understand that Jimmie Rodgers was only part of Merle's influence. The Maddox Brothers were true heroes of the misplaced "Okies", as they were dustbowl survivors (and California immigrants) as well. It is amazing to hear the upbeat and excitement provided by these folks despite their roots and the hardships they endured; no doubt, it endeared them to the thousands of dissplaced Mid-Westerners who ended up on the west coast. There are 27 songs here (over an hour of music) and in their original form. I think you'll enjoy this CD and the musical history it provides. Give it a listen. B+

Too many mistakes for 5 stars........2003-10-07

First off, I must say the music included here is some of the craziest, most outlandish honky tonk music ever recorded. I have never heard music performed that was so good.

But the problem here doesn't lay with the music. The problem lies with the cd itself. Music this important deserves better treatment.

The biggest problem is the fact that the song "I Want to Live and Love" is here twice, once under it's name and once under the name "New Mule Skinner Blues." That is an almost unexcusable error in a collection this important. (Their version of "New Mule Skinner Blues" is on Volume 2).

Next, no where in the booklet is there any recording dates or even a simple explanation of what label the music was recorded for. It says they were signed to Columbia records in 1951, but it also says the recordings included here were recorded between 1946 and 1951.

The sound quality is alright for recordings this old.

A release this important deserves better.

I still recommend this collection, but I wish it was taken more seriously by Arhoolie Records.

Up-tempo rocking country.......2003-03-16

There has never been anybody quite like this family band. These recordings were made between 1946 and 1951, but although they pre-date rock'n'roll, they have a definite good time rock'n'roll feel to them.

Almost relentlessly upbeat, the songs include great covers of the Hank Williams classics Move it on over, Honky tonkin' Another great cover is Faded love, the Bob Wills song which Patsy Cline later made her own, but whereas Patsy's version is very emotional, Rose and the boys do it in a much more upbeat style. If you want sad music , you won't find it here. I love Patsy's version, but I also love the version here.

Philadelphia lawyer was written by Woody Guthrie but became one of Rose's trademark songs. Rose recorded it several times in her long career, but this version with the brothers is the first.

Rose sings lead on most of the songs, except Fred on four songs and Don on another. The mood is still the same - listen to them all on Whoa sailor, with Fred on lead and Rose coming in on a few lines.

There are so many great songs here. I want to live and love (their theme song) actually gets in twice, because the record company made a mistake and included it as track 12 where they meant to put New mule skinner blues, as indicated by the track listing. It also appears correctly as the last track on the CD. This mistake is acknowledged in the notes for volume 2, where all the tracks are as listed, beginning with New mule skinner blues.

Do not let that mistake put you off. There are still 26 excellent upbeat songs to get those toes tapping. If you can't get enough, there are 30 more on volume 2.

The Craziest C.D. You Will Ever Own.......2000-10-21

Rose Maddox had a voice so obnoxious you wanted to punch her in the face. While I have heard her later bluegrass stuff and her recordings with Buck Owens, I alway like to picture her as the girl on the front of this c.d.'s cover, a fun loving bar hopping honky tonk gal. She and her brothers had incredible taste in music as evidenced by the classic selections they cover here. While the later cuts feature top notch musicians (especially the guitar players), their greatest talent was their abbility to transform the material into out and out fun music. They played the western swing circuit of California and I can picture the avacoda pickers (is there such a thing), coming in from the fields around Sacramento dirt covered and thirsty, downing their weight in draft beer) ready to whoop and holler.

Listen to a classic like Muleskinner Blues become a trolloping western swing tune along with insane background whoops and hollers (WHOAAAAAAAAAA MULE!!). There is no better version of Woody Gutheries Philadelphia Lawyer anywhere else on the planet. The classic country theme of divorce is present on my favorite two tracks, (Oh lord, I wish I was a single girl again and alimony).

Tracks:

New Mule Skinner Blues
I Couldn't Believe It Was True
You've Been Talking In Your Sleep
Gosh, I Miss You All The Time
I'm Sending Daffydills
South
Chill In My Heart
Texas Guitar Stomp
Eight Thirty Blues
It's Only Human Nature
Why Not Confess
I'll Never Do It Again
Just One Little Kiss
I Love The Women
I Still Write Your Name In The Sand
Last Night I Heard You Crying In Your Sleep
You're Gonna Be Sorry Some Of These Days
No One Is Sweeter Than You
Detour #2
Mama Says It's Naughty
I've Stopped My Dreaming About You
Kiss Me Quick And Go
Freight Train Boogie
Lonesome Hearted Blues
Cherokee Maiden
Okie Boogie
No One Will Ever Know
Red Silk Stockings And Green Perfume
Garden In The Sky
Dear Lord, Take My Hand

Customer Reviews:

More upbeat rocking country.......2003-03-16

If you've bought the original volume and want more, this will provide you with more of the same. Since their most famous songs from the period (1946 to 1951) were included on the first volume, this set makes no sense on its own, although there is no drop in quality.

It begins with New mule skinner blues, accidentally omitted from the first volume, plus another 29 tracks. Rose again sings lead on most songs, but Fred sings lead on four and Cal on two. On I'm sending daffydills, Rose, Cal and Lulu (their mother) get equal billing. Tracks 22 to 28 had not been released anywhere prior to this compilation.

People will forever debate where rock'n'roll music came from, but it seems likely that the wild music played by Rose and her brothers was one of its many roots. Enjoy it.

Irrepressible.......2001-12-30

As the liner notes say, this family of itinerant musicians decided that farm labor was too much hard work, so they rode boxcars to California. Wearing their stage outfits, they walked up to an A&R guy who asked, "Well, who the hell are you?", and they proceeded to show him, right there in his office.

These days people with that kind of confidence end up selling self-help courses, so it's a special gift to us that The Maddox Brothers and Rose chose country music instead.

The music has been described as a mix of Texas swing, Bakersfield roadhouse, and rockabilly. I just call it some of the best hayseed party music ever made. Solid playing, spirited singing (you can't call it pretty), and help from the best sidemen in the business. My favorites are "Texas Guitar Stomp" and "South" ("Roy Nichols, play that thing!") Rose doesn't sing so much as bray and whinny, but you have to love a woman who is so delightfully uninhibited.

Tracks:

I'll Make Sweet Love To You
Take These Shackles From My Heart
Cocquita Of Laredo
Wedding Blues
Empty Mansions
Little Willie Waltz
The Hiccough Song
Green Grow The Licacs
No Help Wanted
Hearts And Flowers
Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown
Just Over The Stars
I'm A Little Red Caboose (On The Choo Choo Train Of Love)
These Wasted Years
The Nightingale Song
I'd Rather Die Young (Than Grow Old Without You)
Kiss Me Quick And Go
On Mexico's Beautiful Shores
I Won't Stand In Your Way
A Wooin' We Will Go
The Life That You've Led
Kiss Me Like Crazy
Just One More Time
Second Choice

Tracks:

Beautiful Bouquet
A Kiss From Your Lips
My Child Has A Billy Goat
The Time Is Spring
Breathless Love
Hasty Baby
There's No Right Way To Do Me Wrong
The Birthday Card Song
You Won't Believe This
Forever Yours
I Could Never Stop Loving You
Fountain Of Youth
Marry Me Again
Poor Little Heartbroken Rose
I Wonder If I Can Lose The Blues This Way
Waltz Of The Pines
I've Got Four Big Brothers (To Look After Me)
I Gotta Go Get My Baby
A Rusty Old Halo
No More Time
Wild Wild Young Men
The Hoot-Owl Melody
Was There A Teardrop
I'm Gonna Be Loved Tonight

Tracks:

Words Are So Easy To Say
Wild Wind
Hummingbird
When The Sun Goes Down
I'll Find Her
It's A Dark, Dark Place
Away This Side Of Heaven
I Wish You Would
Let This Be The Last Time
Old Black Choo-Choo
Tall Man
Hey Little Dreamboat
Burrito Joe
False Hearted
By The Sweat Of My Brow
Ugly And Slouchy
Paul Bunyan Love
The Death Of Rock And Roll
Your Sweet, Mean Heart
I'll Go Steppin' Too
Did You Ever Come Home
Looky There Over There
Let Those Brown Eyes Smile At Me

Tracks:

Take A Gamble On Me
Tomorrow Land
Old Man Blues
1-2-3-4 Anyplace Road (Somewhere U.S.A)
Love Is Strange
A Short Life And Its Troubles
My Life With You
Dig A Hole
Let Me Love You
The Donkey Song
Stop Whistlin' Wolf
The Way With God Is So Beautiful
Keep On Talking (Tell Him Everything)
Precious Memories
I Saw The Light
Someone To Care
Dear Lord Take My Hand
He Leadeth Me
Keep On Talking (Tell Him Everything)(2)
How Can You Refuse Him Now
No One Knows (What Faith Can Do)
Take My Hand, Precious Lord
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Just Over The Stars
Bringing In The Sheaves

Customer Reviews:

Not as wild as their 4-Star era, but still top-notch.......2000-01-14

While the California-based Arhoolie label has long done right by the Maddoxes and their seminal 1947 to 1951 recordings for 4 Star, the group's later Columbia recordings (1952-1957) have been far harder to come by, the only CD collection up until now being a semi-bootleg European import entitled "The Hillbilly Boogie Years." Fortunately, Bear Family has stepped up to the plate with this superb collection, collecting not only the group's entire output for Columbia, but also Rose Maddox's complete solo Columbia sessions, including her brief pairing with sister-in-law Retta Maddox as Rose and Retta. While collectors have long tended to gravitate towards the group's 4 Star recordings because of their sheer wildness, the act was still more than capable of their usual near-anarchy during the Columbia period; particularly "Ugly and Slouchy," "I've Got Four Big Brothers (to Look After Me)," and the hell-bent-for-leather lunacy of "The Death of Rock and Roll" (really a particularly manic version of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman"). Though the group lost perhaps a little of their endearing rough edge during their Columbia tenure, the trade-off was better studios, better distribution and a chance to work with top-drawer studio musicians such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Joe Maphis and Billy Strange. It works more often than not. Rose's early solo material, by comparison, can be a little hit-and-miss. Cut off from the inspired hijinks of her brothers and finding herself backed by the best studio musicians of the day, not to mention the early Nashville Sound production, she plays it straight and professional for the most part, though occasionally catching fire with "Wild Wild Young Men" and "Lookie There Over There." She was to strike a more consistant balance between her backing musicians and her natural enthusiasm on her Fifties and Sixites Capitol recordings, collected on Bear Family's four-disc "The One Rose" collection. The packaging is up to Bear Family's usual standards of excellence, as is the accompanying 28-page booklet written by Robert Oermann and Deke Dickerson. The 14 unreleased tracks (4 group and 10 solo) date from 1956-1958 sessions; left in the can more than likely because Columbia was quickly losing interest in the act by that late period. This is an excellent look at the later years of one of the era's sassiest acts, as well as a valuable collection of Rose's early solo recordings; all the more poignant given its release a mere two months before Rose's death in April 1998. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

just get it........1999-04-11

The Maddox Brothers and Rose were pretty much a rock 'n' roll band back in the 40's. This box is pretty stunning. From yelling stompers to sweet gospel, the Maddox Brothers and Rose did it all and with panache. It's really a crime that they don't get the props they deserve as an influence on everything from country music fashion to proto rockabilly. Correct this. Get this box. You need "Ugly and Slouchy" in your life. (then get the Rose Maddox box set to go with it.) As always Bear Family has put together a beautiful and retentive package and stellar sound. You definitely get what you pay for with this one.

The Maddox Family during the early 50's.......1998-06-13

Columbia Records held them back from being the Maddox Bros & Rose known for their 4STAR Recordins but they prevailed. These recordings are mostly the family without the help of the "hired hands" but known musicians do appear such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Joe Maphis. The story and pictures add greatly to the enjoyment. Highly recommended.

Music Album:

Music Album