“ROCKIN” PARTY” / “HEY
LITTLE GIRLIE” was the wild debut single released by the Maddy Brothers in
1958. Raised outside of the old sawmill town of Snohomish, Washington, and
later moving to Everett, Bob (mandolin), Jim (rhythm guitar), and Tom (lead
guitar), first stepped onto a country dance stage in 1954 at the rural Bryant
Grange hall, just outside of Arlington. A few
years later – and although still teen-aged minors – the Maddy Brothers somehow
managed to hold down a steady gig at Duffy’s Tavern in Clearview for almost two
years. The trio had strong traditional country roots but they had begun
assimilating the song stylings of newcomers like the Every Brothers, Elvis
Presley, and Buddy Knox into their sound. The Maddy Brothers also began working
with a bassist, “Buddy” Bruce Brautsman, and occasionally hired various
drummers to sit in.
It was while working at
Duffy’s that they were “discovered” and signed to a management contract by Seattle
businessman Art Benson. Benson had operated dancehalls and booked jazz bands
locally since at least the 1940s, and he could see the rise of rock ‘n’ roll
happening and wanted in on the action. The Maddys were taken into Chet Noland’s
downtown Seattle studio, Dimensional Sound, and their songs were soon issued as a
45 on Noland’s Celestial Records label. The tunes featured real gone hillbilly
harmonies and brother Tom’s truly primitive electric guitar solo, but it’s the
aforementioned occasional use of a drummer that is the disc’s one possible drawback. Because, even though there’s those three boppin’ voices, those two twangin’ guitars, that one mad
mandolin, and tons of rockabilly slapback studio echo, there’s zero sign of
any drums present.
Thus, though a bit unsteady
overall, the songs still have a unique appeal. Indeed, the slightly lurid-sounding vocals on “Hey Little
Girlie” notwithstanding, the tune was actually selected by a Seattle radio
station where, on a popular midmorning show in which listeners could call in to
rate new releases, brother Bob recalls rejoicing that day upon hearing their
own song receive a 98% “Potential Hit” score. Any visions of immediate fame and
fortune soon dissipated however, as the song never aired again. Benson sadly
explained that he simple couldn’t meet the cash payola required to push the
disc. Ahem.
Five years later the Maddy
Brothers gave the record biz another shot, signing with Everett’s Ray-O Records
and recording in the basement studio of owner/engineer Ray Van Patton. “Mixed
Up” / My Crazy Old Heart” was a much straighter country music effort than their rockin' debut, but (perhaps as a result) in
1963 the brothers were invited to join on as regular performers on the Evergreen Jubilee – KOMO-TV’s weekly
country show as hosted by Jack Roberts and the Evergreen Drifters. Every
Wednesday evening for two years the Maddys commuted down to Seattle to tape the
show and thereby crossed paths with many country music legends including: Hank
Thompson, Carl Smith, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, and others.
Meanwhile a brand new
Clearview Community Center was built across the road from Duffy’s and the Maddy
Brothers were hired to play for a two-year-long series of Saturday night dances
there. The guys went on to sign with Portland, Oregon’s Allied Talent Agency
and spent the next several years on the road doing six-nighters from Oregon to
Idaho to Montana. Then at the turn of
the decade they began booking only local casual dates and by the mid-1970s –
after two decades as a working country act – the Maddy Brothers finally retired
from public performances. Many changes occurred throughout those twenty years;
the old Duffy’s tavern burned to the ground long ago, and the Evergreen Jubilee’s final hoedown was in 1968, but all three Maddy Brothers still live here in
Northwest country.
[Note:
This is an edited version of an essay that originally appeared in the
“Northwest Music Archives” column of Seattle’s The Rocket magazine back in May, 1984.]
Text copyright © 1984, 2014 by Peter Blecha.
Text copyright © 1984, 2014 by Peter Blecha.