Don Maddox – Final Member of Maddox Brothers & Rose – Has Died

Don Maddox was arguably the oldest living legend in country music. And he will remain a legend, today and forevermore. But his time as one of the last living links to the very formation of country music has officially ended. Don Maddox of The Maddox Brothers & Rose has died at the age of 98.
The Maddox Brothers and Rose were quite literally there as hillbilly music, rockabilly, and rock and roll were formed, and when they ultimately split into separate genres, with the band influencing all three in very significant ways. Their colorful stage suits were the inspiration for Elvis’s stage wear. An up-and-coming singer from Texas named George Jones once opened from them. And though they never seem to receive their proper due, those who know, they know that American music would sound like something fundamentally different if it weren’t for the Maddox Brothers and Rose.
Born on December 7th, 1922, fiddler, singer, and band comedian Don Maddox moved with his family to California from Boaz, Alabama during the 1930’s and the early stages of the Depression. Tired of working as itinerant farmers, they decided to become entertainers and The Maddox Brothers were born in 1937. At the beginning, Don was too young for the band, but when he came of age he joined his brothers and sister as the fiddle player and comedian with the nickname “Don Juan.”
The Maddox Brothers and Rose were known as “The World’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band” for their bright embroidered Western suits inspired by the silver screen actors in Hollywood where the got their start. They wore Nudie suits before anyone knew what a Nudie suit was. Seminal to both the California Country and Bakersfield scenes, they also toured the United States as a headliner act, and played The Grand Ole Opry and The Louisiana Hayride in the early stages of the institutions. According to Don, they were responsible for Elvis adopting his flashy stage attire.
“We were playing a show with Elvis in Beaumont, TX at the auditorium.” Don told Saving Country Music in a 2012 interview. “A package show. And we had on our fancy outfits, the ones with the bell bottoms on them and all the flowers and all of that stuff. Elvis, he was just coming on the scene at that time. And they came in with their street clothes. That’s all they had at that time. It was pretty hot down in Beaumont so we took off our fancy jackets and hung them in the dressing room backstage. And when we came off stage and went back there to get our jackets, Elvis had on one of our fancy jackets and was parading backstage and he said, ‘One of these days I’m going to get a fancy outfit like this.’ So eventually Elvis got himself a fancy outfit, not like ours but even more fancier. But it had bell bottoms on it, so the story is he got the idea from seeing bell bottoms on our outfits at that time.”

Two of the most important contributions to music from the band came from Don’s sister Rose, and his brother Fred. Rose Maddox has been called anywhere from the queen, to the mother, to the grandmother of rockabilly music. Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton both cite her as a significant influence.
Brother Fred Maddox who played upright bass is given credit for developing the slap bass approach to the instrument. “Well the reason he did a slap bass was because he didn’t know how to play the bass.” Don Maddox explains. “All he was doing was playing rhythm anyhow. He didn’t know the notes so he’d just slap the bass for the rhythm part. Everybody thought he put on a great show and thought he was the best bass player there was.”
In the mid 50’s, Maddox Brothers and Rose officially disbanded. They determined their style of music had peaked. “The money was going out faster than it was going in,” says Don. So Rose, along with brother Cal who played guitar, and mother Maddox who was the family’s manager, left for Nashville to hopefully make it big in country music. They thought Rose was the real star, and could make more money without all of the other brothers. Rose did have some moderate success, but never hit it big, and in subsequent decades, the contributions of the Maddox Brothers and Rose faded mostly to memory.
But in recent years and retrospectives, the importance of the Maddox Brothers and Rose has come sharper into focus. When the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville opened a major exhibit on the Bakersfield Sound in 2012, Merle Haggard was quoted as saying, “If you don’t get Don Maddox back here for this exhibit, you might as well not have it at all.” And so with the help of Marty Stuart, they did. Marty is the owner of many of the group’s colorful stage suits, and these constituted the very first thing you saw as you walked into the exhibit that ran until 2014.
Then in the 2019 Ken Burns documentary on country music, the 2nd episode of the series focused extensively on the contributions of The Maddox Brothers and Rose, and specifically included an interview with Don Maddox. They were also featured in the 3rd episode of the series. This once again helped underscore the band’s importance. But despite the renewed interest in the band, and the efforts of people such as Marty Stuart, The Maddox Brothers and Rose have still yet to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame—something many fans were hoping might happen while Don was still alive. His last sibling to pass away was Rose on April 15, 1998.
Don Maddox was 37-years-old when the Maddox Brothers and Rose disbanded, and was living in Hollywood at the time. Don enrolled in a college of agriculture that taught the cattle business, and after graduating, drove his ’57 pink Cadillac north from Hollywood in search of a ranch to buy. He wanted to purchase in the Napa Valley just north of San Francisco, but eventually settled in Ashland, OR, just over the California border, where he found a 300-acre plot just east of town. They wouldn’t take his pink Cadillac in trade, but he was able to buy the place for $27,500.
Don then bought a legendary Angus bull named “Ben Bond Revolution #73,” and started a “revolutionary” cattle ranch. Don kept the Revolution Ranch running for decades, and the barn that reads “Maddox Revolution Angus” that overlooks Ashland, OR on a bluff is a landmark of the area.

The irony in Don’s story is that even though he was one of the Maddox Brothers members who wasn’t seen as “good enough” to keep going when Rose tried to make it big in Nashville, he was the one able to take the wealth the family enjoyed from the 40’s and 50’s through performing, and make it last. So when Rose’s career came to a halt in Nashville, she, along with brother Cal and mother Maddox moved to Ashland, OR where Don sectioned off 5-acre plots of the ranch for them to live on. Mom, Rose, and Cal lived there for the rest of their lives.
Don Maddox continued to fiddle and perform up until the last few years, including flying out to play the Muddy Roots Festival in Cookeville, TN, and playing the West Coast Country Music Festival in Greensprings, Oregon. He would also regularly perform with the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers in the Southern Oregon region.
The death of Don Maddox is truly the end of an era in American music.
He is survived by his wife Barbara, who he affectionately referred to as his “child bride.”
September 12, 2021 @ 7:13 pm
I am saddenned by his passing but much sadder because he never saw the Maddox Bros and Rose make it to the HOF. Shame on the Country Music HOF! I loved their music, their outfits, their one of a kind band. Their sound and style was so unique, some have said they helped to create rockabilly and even played the first rock and roll. I don’t think anyone else could replicate their special music.The family story would make a great movie. They belong in the Hall and hopefully will get there due very soon, albeit too late for Don to enjoy.
It is a sad day for music and you are so right, an era has ended.
RIP Don Maddox
September 12, 2021 @ 7:51 pm
The sad irony here is that now that Don has died, Maddox Brothers and Rose may not be eligible to be considered next year due to the death provision saying you can’t be inducted a year after death to discourage sympathy votes. Not sure if that would apply to the whole group if one member died, but it might.
I’m heartwarmed to know that Don did see his family honored in a Country Music Hall of Fame display as part of the Bakersfield Sounds exhibit, and that he was featured in the Ken Burns documentary before he died. But this situation is the very reason so many of us have been lobbying the Country Music Hall of Fame to clear the backlog of Veteran’s Era nominees and do a group induction. Don Maddox and Jerry Lee Lewis (knock on wood) are the two we were most worried about dying before induction, and now Don is gone.
September 12, 2021 @ 7:39 pm
Thanks to Marty Stuart for bringing notice of them to many who wouldn’t have known them otherwise. A great group and deserving of the HOF. They truly were pioneers.
Seems like the Rock HOF is better at acknowledging genre-shaping pioneers than the country HOF.
You look at some of the acts that are included who may not have had the commercial success of others, however their influence was profound.
Maybe Nashcrap can learn few things?
September 12, 2021 @ 8:15 pm
Trigger, I must say I had no idea who this group was. Read the article. Decided to hit up their apple playlist and have been really enjoying being entertained. It is amazing . I can just hear what they were doing then in so much of what came after.
September 12, 2021 @ 9:05 pm
As usual my uncle Don seems to have forgotten he had an older sister, Alta Mae Troxel, who passed away on 8/18/2007 at the age of 93. Granted she was not in the band but she did write quite a few songs that were recorded by both The Maddox Bros and Rose and Rose as a solo act. It would be nice if all the facts were correct. I wish Ken Burns could make that correction in his documentary.
September 13, 2021 @ 12:25 pm
Thank you for informing everyone.
September 13, 2021 @ 4:34 am
One less hillbilly in old country music tonight…
January 2, 2024 @ 9:12 am
Did one day of the Maddox Brothers own a restaurant or bar in Ventura, California at one time?
September 13, 2021 @ 6:48 am
R.I.P , Don Maddox .
September 13, 2021 @ 8:41 am
Sad to hear about Don. Got to meet Rose several times, never got to meet Don. Big fan of The Maddox Bros. & Rose. Strange, I searched the internet and only find your mention of his passing. Though there would be a lot more news.
September 13, 2021 @ 5:12 pm
I wasn’t surprised that not a lot of outlets picked up on the story Sunday night when it broke since that’s about the most dead time of the week for media. But I did expect someone, anyone to pick up on it today (Monday), and there’s been nothing. It’s really disappointing. With the impact they had not only on country, but rock as well, and the importance Rose played for women in music, I would have thought there would at least be a mention in some other places. I know if Merle Haggard was around, he’d be setting folks straight.
September 13, 2021 @ 9:27 am
Saw rose maddow on the cousin herb Henson TV show in bakersfield California in 1959 and early 1960s. Loved them and yes they deserve to be in country hall of fame..
September 13, 2021 @ 12:26 pm
Requiescat in pace, Don Maddox.
September 13, 2021 @ 5:19 pm
I’ll add my flowers. Musicians know how great Maddox Bros. and Rose were, even if the HOF doesn’t.
September 13, 2021 @ 5:43 pm
I remember ROSE MADDOX from the 1950’s..her energetic raspy voice ..big smile .her knees dancing to the music..it was in black and white.we went to grandmas cus we had no tv with big antennae on top of house…cousin herb was a wild character..
September 14, 2021 @ 9:29 am
enjoyed their music, but enjoyed their story and how they worked to make it.
For a long time Bakersfield sound did not get the credit it deserved.
RIP
September 14, 2021 @ 12:45 pm
We lost Jude Northcutt a few days ago. He was 92. Jude and Jody had a lot to do with early country music.
September 23, 2021 @ 10:58 pm
R.I.P. Don Maddox. The world lost a true country legend. He was there from the beginning and lived to see it all go downhill. Nashville is pure crap these days. Most modern country acts like the Dixie Chicks are total garbage. There is hardly any twang these days. Mostly crumby pop music who claim to be country music but aren’t. You can barely call most modern acts country. The Maddox Brothers and Rose were the real deal. They helped shape the entire country music scene in America (besides The Carter Family). I have no respect for the Country Music Hall of Fame since they failed to include Maddox Brothers and Rose. The Country Music Hall of Fame is a joke. I would never support them.
I was lucky enough to see Rose Maddox back in 1996 at Ronnie Mack’s Barndance at Jack’s Sugar Shack on Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St. in Hollywood, California. She sang all her famous tunes with her son and his band backing her. We really had a fun time. Jack’s Sugar Shack was a small venue that only held a couple hundred people. Felt like goin back in time. Sadly Rose Maddox passed away a year later.
There are really only a hand full of country acts that play real Country these days like Dwight Yokum, Whitey Morgan, Toby Keith, Hank III, Wayne Hancock, The Derailers, Dale Watson, and Big Sandy to name a few…and a few of the old timers are still around performing like Hank Williams, Jr., David Allen Coe, Narvel Felts, etc.
Besides the above mentioned and a few others, most modern so-called country bands suck !!!
September 25, 2021 @ 8:22 pm
The Maddox Brothers & Rose were my cousins. I was too young to ever hear them play as a group. But, I heard Rose perform many times. It was late in life when I finally met Don Juan (Kenneth). But, I kept in contact with him until nearly the end…..
August 12, 2023 @ 6:10 am
I grew up in Stayton, OR & worked on a farm, just across the Santiam River, from the age of about 13/14 all through high school & my 1st year of college. Summers were work, work, work with little time off. Except, when the Maddox Brothers and Rose would come to the Oregon coast to perform! Carl shut down the farm so he could so see Rose. I loved Rose! Then discovered and love her music.
After the farm and college my job transferred us to Medford, OR in 1967. Not sure when Don Maddox settled in Ashland, OR but he had been here for sometime when we met him. I don’t remember the year (dates aren’t my strong suit) but a Johnny Cash/June Carter impersonation duo had a stop in Medford, booked a performance at a small Medford Honky Tonk and arranged for Don Maddox to join in. Don Maddox, who I believe was in his 80’s at the time, stole the show!
My wife, God rest her soul, approached Don and despite his reluctance got him on the dance floor! His smiles and joy for those few minutes are priceless!
So that’s my Maddox Brothers and Rose story. Love their music and their story.