Ashland fiddle player proud of family’s place in history as members of Swing Hall of Fame

Don Maddox of Ashland has been inducted into the Western Swing Music Hall of Fame. Maddox, 82, was one of the brothers in The Maddox Brothers and Rose, a ground-breaking country band in the 1940s and ’50s.

Sister Rose Maddox in 1996 became the first female artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame Art Gallery.

The induction took place amid four days of music and ceremonies in Sacramento, where the Western Swing Music Hall is based.

"It was really a thrill," Maddox says.

There were 12 inductees. On the final day of the event, all 12 played together on-stage for an hour. Afterwards Maddox did a comedy routine.

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"I heard ’em say I should be on TV," he says, "so I’m still on cloud nine."

The Maddox Brothers and Rose walked, hitchhiked and hopped freight trains from Alabama to California during the Depression. By 1939 they had a show on radio KFBK in Sacramento, Calif.

After World War II, the Maddox Brothers and Rose became popular playing a raw style of country music that came to be called "okie boogie." It set the tone for California country, a style that would include Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

The act included plenty of comedy along with music. Each player had a stage persona. Brother Don’s stage name was "Don Juan."

The brothers and Rose lived in Hollywood, joined the "Louisiana Hayride" radio show and toured constantly. They toured with Hank Williams and played the Las Vegas Strip and the Grand Ole Opry, but they also played the 21 Club in Medford and clubs in Roseburg and in Eureka, Calif.

The group’s biggest hit was Woody Guthrie’s "Philadelphia Lawyer."

Don Maddox bought a ranch near Ashland in 1958. He ran cattle until two years ago, when he sold the herd.

When a friend tried to talk him into an old-time fiddlers event, he said no.

"I don’t want to play with a bunch of old coots like me," he said.

Later he was talked into going to Weiser, Idaho, for the big fiddlers event there.

"I walked into it and everybody was playing at once," he says. "It sounded like a beehive. I liked it."

He swore after that to take a more active interest in the events.

"I’m trying to carry on the legacy," he says. "The Maddox Brothers and Rose."

Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail bvarble@mailtribune.com.