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Music
 

Stay Home Lucy

Granbury, Texas

Clayton Smith
Nic Harper
Alex Dickens
Ryan Toth

www.myspace.com/stayhomelucy

Old Settlers Music Festival
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The Avett Brothers
David Mayfield Parade
Fri.
Oct. 14
Jim Jefferies
Sat.
Oct. 15
The Avett Brothers
David Mayfield Parade
Sat.
Oct. 15
Evanescence
Wed.
Oct. 19
Marsha Ambrosius
Thu.
Oct. 20
Jack's Mannequin
Motion City Soundtrack, Lady Danville
Sat.
Oct. 22
Manchester Orchestra
White Denim, The Dear Hunter, Little Hurricane
Sun.
Oct. 23
Anthrax / Testament
Fri.
Oct. 28
Ghostland Observatory
Sat.
Oct. 29
Bassnectar
Ana Sia, SuperDre
Mon.
Oct. 31

Ledisi
Fri.
Nov. 4
TESLA
Fri.
Nov. 11
Five Finger Death Punch / All That Remains
Hatebreed, Rev Theory
Sat.
Nov. 12
Black Veil Brides
Falling in Reverse, Aiden, Drive A
Fri.
Nov. 18


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  • Friday, October 7 | Doors 7 pm

    $20 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Allman Brothers, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Randy Rogers, Reckless Kelly

    Oklahoma inspired guitar rock with blues and country influences pushed to the limits

  • outx

    TX vs OU Watching Party

    {11:30}

    Special Event from ~ Dallas, Texas


    Saturday, October 8 | Doors 11 am

    $21.65 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Barry Switzer, Colt McCoy, Ricky Williams, Sam Bradford

    Fajita plate included! To make a reservation please call 214-824-9933

  • portugaltheman_195

    Portugal. The Man

    {}

    with Air Review {}

    Indie, Rock from ~ Portland, Oregon


    Saturday, October 8 | Doors 7 pm

    $19 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: At the Drive-In, Circa Survive, Minus the Bear, The Mars Volta

    Experimental indie rock that's all over the map, balancing eccentricity with pop savvy.

  • therapture_195

    The Rapture

    {}

    and Poolside {}

    Indie from ~ Brooklyn, New York


    Tuesday, October 11 | Doors 7 pm

    $24 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: !!!, DFA 1979, LCD Soundsystem, The Faint

    Primal digi-funk that is stylist, rambunctious, and danceable. Get off your ass and work it!

  • friendlyfires_195

    Friendly Fires

    {10:20 pm}

    with Ishi {}

    Beats, Indie from ~ Hertfordshire, England


    Wednesday, October 12 | Doors 8 pm

    $20 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Cut Copy, Foals, Foster the People, Phoenix

    Adventurously lush electro-dance full of blissed out melodies & earworm hooks.

  • adamcarolla_195

    Adam Carolla

    {}

    Comedy from ~ Seattle, Washington


    Saturday, October 15 | Doors 6 pm

    $35.50 - $46.50 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Bill Simmons, Dr. Drew, Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel

    Wise-ass renaissance man witha witty & downright offensive sense of humor

  • TWOS

    The Naked and Famous

    {10:10 pm}

    with The Chain Gang of 1974 {9:05 pm}

    and White Arrows {8:00 pm}

    Indie from ~ Auckland, New Zealand


    Thursday, October 20 | Doors 7 pm

    $20 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Passion Pit, Temper Trap, Two Door Cinema Club, Yeasayer

    Euphoric, ravey synths & huge sing-along summer anthems

  • recklesskelly_195

    Reckless Kelly

    {}

    with Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward {}

    Country/Americana from ~ Austin, Texas


    Friday, October 21 | Doors 7 pm

    $19 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Cross Canadian Ragweed, Pat Green, Randy Rogers, Robert Earl Keen

    Full throttle Austin country-rock experience full on partying, pretty girls, hard playing & kick-ass songwriting.

  • battles_195

    Battles

    {10:20 pm}

    Beats, Indie, Jam from ~ New York City, New York


    Saturday, October 22 | Doors 7 pm

    $20 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Animal Collective, Foals, Menomena, TVOTR

    Zigzagging math rock that can also follow the straight-line pulse of dance music

  • perpetualgroove_195

    Perpetual Groove

    {}

    with Spivey {}

    Beats, Jam from ~ Savannah, Georgia


    Sunday, October 23 | Doors 7 pm

    $19 - $24 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Pink Floyd, STS9, Umphrey's McGee, Widespread Panic

    A funky blend of trance electronica & arena rock

  • minusthebear_195

    Minus the Bear

    {}

    with The Lonely Forest {}

    Indie, Jam, Rock from ~ Seattle, Washington


    Tuesday, October 25 | Doors 8 pm

    $24 ADV || $27 DOS all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Muse, MuteMath, Portugal the Man, Spoon

    Celebrating a decade of music playing favorites & Highly Refined Pirates in its entirety!

  • robertrandolph_195

    Robert Randolph and the Family Band

    {}

    with The Sheepdogs {}

    Jazz, Rock from ~ Orage, New Jersey


    Wednesday, October 26 | Doors 7 pm

    $24 - $47 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Ben Harper, Derek Trucks, Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz

    Roof raising funk steel rock! One of the rowdiest performances ever!

  • jjgreygalactic_195

    JJ Grey & Mofro / Galactic

    {Galactic - 9pm // JJ Grey & Mofro - 11pm}

    Jam, Rock from ~ New Orleans, Lousiana


    Thursday, October 27 | Doors 8 pm

    $30 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Funkadelic, James Brown, Meters, Widespread Panic

    From scorching southern blues to full on funk; this is going to be an all-night party!

  • concreteblonde_195

    Concrete Blonde

    {}

    with Menkena {8:00 pm}

    Indie, Rock from ~ Los Angeles, California


    Friday, October 28 | Doors 7 pm

    $35 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Eurythmics, Garbage, Nick Cave, Peter Murphy

    Decadent sonic landscapes reinforced by one of LA's strongest female vocalists

  • TWOS

    The Manzarek-Rogers Band

    {}

    with RTB2 {}

    and Whiskey Folk Ramblers {}

    Jam, Rock from ~ Chicago, Illinois


    Saturday, October 29 | Doors 7 pm

    $25 - $50 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Allman Brothers, Nick Cave, Rolling Stones, The Doors

    Doors keyboardist Manzarek & slide-guitar master Rogers mix up a tasty cocktail

  • thewombats_195

    The Wombats

    {10:20 pm}

    with The Postelles {9:00 pm}

    and Static Jacks {8:00 pm }

    Indie from ~ Liverpool, England


    Tuesday, November 1 | Doors 7 pm

    $18 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Arctic Monkeys, Foster the People, Kaiser Chiefs, Two Door Cinema Club

    Electronic influenced pop rock with infectious choruses and driving guitar riffs

  • matesofstate_195

    Mates of State

    {}

    with Generationals {}

    Indie from ~ Lawrence, Kansas


    Wednesday, November 2 | Doors 7 pm

    $20 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Death Cab For Cutie, Matt & Kim, Spoon, Yo La Tengo

    Giant calliope organ! Crooken waltze drumming! Joyous holleration harmonies!

  • rarariot_195

    Ra Ra Riot

    {}

    with Delicate Steve {}

    and Yellow Ostrich {}

    Indie from ~ Syracuse, New York


    Thursday, November 3 | Doors 7 pm

    $20 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Belle & Sebastian, Islands, Mates of State, Vampire Weekend

    Joyful chamber pop that is equally exhilarating and heartfelt

  • moe_195

    moe.

    {}

    with Great American Taxi {}

    Jam, Rock from ~ Utica, New York


    Friday, November 4 | Doors 7 pm

    $29 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Phish, Steely Dan, Umphrey's McGee, Zappa

    The preeminent progressive rock band on the music scene today.

  • warrenhaynes_195

    Warren Haynes

    {}

    Guitar Virtuoso, Jam, Rock from ~ Asheville, North Carolina


    Saturday, November 5 | Doors 7 pm

    $35 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Allman Brothers, Freddie King, Gov't Mule, Tab Benoit

    From jam to rock to blues, Rolling Stone mag's 23rd greatest guitarist of all-time

  • TWOS

    SCOREMORE Presents: Curren$y, Method Man

    {}

    with Big KRIT, Smoke DZA {}

    and Fiend, The Pricks, Corner Boy P {}

    Beats from ~ New Orleans, Louisiana


    Wednesday, November 9 | Doors 7 pm

    $45 ADV || $51 DOS all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Cypress Hill, Devin the Dude, Nas, Snoop Dogg

    Baked beats & Rhymes from hip hop's most entertaining voices

  • thesounds_weekly

    The Sounds

    {}

    with Natalia Kills {}

    and The Limousines, Kids At The Bar {}

    Indie from ~ Heisingborg, Sweden


    Thursday, November 10 | Doors 6 pm

    $22 (adv) || $24 (DOS) all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Blondie, Lykke Li, Metric, Tegan & Sara

    The gold standard of sassy, feel-good rock 'n roll. These Swedes know how to party!

  • jamesmcmurtry_195

    James McMurtry & Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

    {}

    Country/Americana from ~ Fort Worth, Texas


    Friday, November 11 | Doors 8 pm

    $20 - $30 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Drive By Truckers, Joe Ely, Neil Young, Ray Wylie Hubbard

    Two of Americana's best songwriters. Equal parts gritty blues & rootsy folk rock

  • Dave Barnes

    Dave Barnes

    {}

    Indie from ~ Nashville, Tennessee


    Sunday, November 13 | Doors 7 pm

    $20 - $33 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Bruno Mars, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, The Fray

    Earnest Acoustic Pop that winds its way through Rock, R&B, and Soul

  • thejayhawks_195

    The Jayhawks

    {}

    with Jolie Holland {}

    Country/Americana, Indie from ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota


    Wednesday, November 16 | Doors 8 pm

    $30 - $50 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Gram Parsons, Old 97s, Whiskeytown, Wilco

    Louris & Olson join forces once again to create timeless Americana roots-rock

  • thiswilldestroyyou_195

    This Will Destroy You

    {10:20pm}

    Indie, Rock from ~ San Marcos, Texas


    Friday, November 18 | Doors 7 pm

    $15 - $30 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Mono, Sigur Ros

    Hauntingly dark and blindingly luminous instrumental rock that scales sonic summits and valleys

  • tabbenoit_195

    Tab Benoit

    {}

    Blues, Guitar Virtuoso from ~ Baton Rouge, LA


    Thursday, December 1 | Doors 7 pm

    $18-$36 all fees and taxes included


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    Goes Good With: Delbert McClinton, Little Feat, Marcia Ball, Neville Brothers

    Louisiana journeyman grafts blues, rock, and soul to the indigenous sounds of the bayou


Thirsty Ear Festival
www.thirstyearfestival.com


Check out this concert by our friends in Tulsa
Tulsa Roots Music is proud to present multi-instrumentalist
DAVID LINDLEY
Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7:30
Tulsa Little Theatre, 1511 S. Delaware Ave., Tulsa, OK
MORE INFO & TICKETS

Multi-instrumentalist David Lindley performs music that redefines the word eclectic. His uncanny vocal mimicry and demented sense of humor make his onstage banter a highlight.


border songs with singer-songwriter
TOM RUSSELL
Saturday, November 26 at 7:30
Sol at Santa Fe Brewing
MORE INFO & TICKETS

"An uncanny sense of place that advertises him as one of the remaining guardians of a dwindling narrative sensibility." —Associated Press


mark your calendars for the 13th annual
THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL
June 7-10, 2012. Various venues, Santa Fe, NM

Photo by Justin Thor Simenson
Artists, venues & lineup TBA
MORE INFO

"An uncanny sense of place that advertises him as one of the remaining guardians of a dwindling narrative sensibility." —Associated Press

Singer-songwriter Tom Russell was born in Los Angeles in 1950 and now makes his home on the border of El Paso-Juarez. A writer, painter and musician, he began his music career in the bars of Vancouver's skid row. With 20 albums of original material to his credit, including the 2005 classic homage to his friend Charles Bukowski, Hotwalker, Russell's songs have appeared in a dozen films and have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith, Doug Sahm, Dave Alvin, Joe Ely, Ian Tyson and others. He is credited, along with Dave Alvin, with establishing the Americana radio format with their co-produced 1994 tribute to Merle Haggard, Tulare Dust. Russell’s latest disc is Blood And Candle Smoke.


AFRICAN DRUMMING IN THE SCHOOLS
featuring AKEEM AYANNIYI

In 2010-2011, Southwest Roots Music continues its K-12 music programming by bringing acclaimed Nigerian drummer Akeem Ayanniyi into NM grade schools, summer children's programs, and to the Thirsty Ear Festival for an interactive program with kids.

Akeem heads the Santa Fe-based troupe Agalu, an ensemble from Nigeria that keeps alive traditional Yoruba stories, rituals and mythology through drumming, storytelling and dance. A ninth-generation practitioner of the Yoruba talking drum, Akeem engages students in conversation about the continent of Africa, framed within his own personal story about growing up as a drummer in Nigeria. In addition to stories and song, he demonstrates the traditional talking drum, ashiko, djembe and bata drums, which children have the opportunity to play and experience. A drummer from the age of five, Akeem descends from a family lineage that can be traced back 700 years to the Yoruba deity of drumming, Ayan Agalu. He has toured much of the world and performed at the Smithsonian Institute; the Brooklyn Academy of Music; the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe; Afrikadey! in Calgary, Canada; and the New Mexico Jazz & International Music Festival.

We have teamed with Akeem and his guest musicians for 2010 programs at Atalaya, Wood Gormley and La Mariposa Montessori schools in Santa Fe, for two workshops at the Thirsty Ear Festival, and for an amazing afternoon at Children's Adventure Company in which Akeem accompanied the folk group Po' Girl during its interactive workshop with the kids.

If you are involved with a NM school and would like to enjoy free Southwest Roots Music K-12 programming, please call 918-289-0482.


LOOKING BACK

2011: Yo La Tengo | 2011 Festival w/ Calexico & Shawn Colvin | JT & The Clouds 2| Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars | Rory Block | Santa Fe Blues w/Hazel Miller Band | JT Nero Trio | JT & The Clouds
2010: Beausoleil | Southwest Roots Music night on the Plaza with Po' Girl | Ralph Stanley | The Original Wailers | 2010 Festival w/ Sam Bush | Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars | Ramblin' Jack Elliott | Michael Tarbox | Santa Fe Blues w/ T-Model Ford | Greg Brown | Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco PLayboys | The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band | Dumpstaphunk | Rosanne Cash
2009: 2009 Festival w/ Keb' Mo', Steel Pulse, Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate | Allison Russell | Smothers Brothers | Tom Russell | Cheryl Wheeler | Sara Watkins | Mary & Mars | Po' Girl | David Lindley | Beausoleil | Boulder Acoustic Society & Round Mountain | Butch Hancock | Carolina Chocolate Drops | Civil Rights Photos & Music | Honeyboy Edwards
2008: 2008 Festival w/ Richard Thompson | Dave Alvin | Greg Brown | Tony Furtado | Skatalites | Ani DiFranco | Taj Mahal | South by Southwest | Po' Girl | Tom Russell | Eliza Gilkyson | Women's Celebration w/ The Be Good Tanyas & Odetta | The Wailers | Dr. John | Po' Girl | Guy Clark| Terri Hendrix & Lloyd Maines| Santa Fe All-Stars
2007: 2007 Festival w/ The Flatlanders | Chris Smither | Po' Girl | Fabulous Thunderbirds | Taj Mahal | Tracy Grammer & Alex Maryol | Santa Fe Women's Celebration w/ Nanci Griffith | Sweet Honey in the Rock | Toots & the Maytals | Asleep at the Wheel | Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys | Greg Brown
2006: 2006 Festival w/ Patty Griffin | Dr. John | Otis Taylor | Mavis Staples | Ladysmith Black Mambazo | Joan Baez | Marcia Ball | Chipper Thompson | Buckwheat Zydeco | Eliza Gilkyson | Odetta | Iris Dement | Burning Spear | Solas | Alex Maryol & Ken Valdez | Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys | Po' Girl | Greg Brown
2005: 2005 Festival w/ Rickie Lee Jones & BeauSoleil | Louisiana Red | Peter Rowan Trio & Robert Earl Keen | Eliza Gilkyson | Billy Joe Shaver/Guy Clark | Greg Brown
2004: David Honeyboy Edwards | Neko Case | Eliza Gilkyson | Chipper Thompson
Taj Mahal | Chris Smither | Eric Bibb | Bo Diddley
2003: 2003 Festival w/ Govt Mule | Guy Clark/Jimmie Dale Gilmore | Ralph Stanley | Odetta & Doc Watson
2002: 2002 Festival w/ Pinetop Perkins | Joan Baez | Del McCoury Band
2001: 2001 Festival w/ Junior Brown
2000: 2000 Festival w/ Joe Ely
1999: 1999 Festival w/ Guy Clark

BECOME A SOUTHWEST ROOTS MUSIC MEMBER

SOUTHWEST ROOTS MUSIC MEMBERS RECEIVE:

*10% off tickets to all events.

*A prime block of tickets is reserved for members at all Southwest Roots Music events. Even if a show is sold out, members can still get the best seats. Just call at least 3 days before a concert and you're in at a discount.

Mark your calendars for the 12th annual
THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL
June 10, 11 & 12, 2011
Venue & lineup to be announced...

Walnut Valley Festival
 
Woody Guthrie Festival
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    • Interstellar Meltdown
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Main Venue Camping with Wednesday Arrival is Sold Out!

1.31.2011

Our Main Venue Camping with Wednesday Arrival camping option is now sold out. All tickets are selling at a...  continue


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Eminem • Arcade Fire • Widespread Panic • The Black Keys • Buffalo Springfield feat Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Rick Rosas, Joe Vitale • My Morning Jacket • Lil Wayne • String Cheese Incident • Robert Plant & Band of Joy • Mumford & Sons • The Strokes • The Decemberists • Ray Lamontagne • Bassnectar • Iron & Wine • Girl Talk • Primus • Dr. John and The Original Meters performing Desitively Bonnaroo • Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas • Pretty Lights • Florence + the Machine • SuperJam featuring Dan Auerbach and Dr. John • Explosions in the Sky • STS9 • Gogol Bordello • Beirut • Big Boi • Scissor Sisters • Gregg Allman • Ratatat • Robyn • Warren Haynes Band • & Many More!
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The Mayfield Brothers
The Mayfield Brothers
by Joe Carr and Alan Munde
Born and raised on the Green Valley Ranch near Dawn, Texas in 1926, Thomas Edward “Edd” Mayfield and his brothers Herb and Smokey were among the first musicians on the plains of West Texas to embrace the basically eastern mountain-born bluegrass music. Like many others in the region, they gained a heightened awareness of the outside world with the introduction of the radio. On these remote plains, the first radios, which were battery powered, came through the mail from catalog stores such as Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Edd Mayfield's elementary school classmate Alvie Ivey of Pep, Texas remembered driving the family’s Model A Ford up to a house window and hooking the car battery to the radio to catch the broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry. Despite the great distances involved, West Texans could receive WSM’s clear channel signal directly from Nashville,and from time to time, thirty-minute segments of the Opry were broadcast on the nearby stations in Amarillo and Lubbock. Ivey related that it was not unusual to run the car battery down with this Saturday evening entertainment and later have to join his brothers in push-starting the car to get it back to the barn.
Edd Mayfield and his brothers were involved in family music-making before the introduction of the radio into the household. Both parents, William fletcher Mayfield and Penelope Ruth Drake Mayfield, were musicians. William played the fiddle, while Penelope accompanied him on the piano or guitar. The couple met at a community dance and later performed at house parties and dances through their courting days, playing such staple fiddle tunes as “Durang’s Hornpipe,” “Wednesday Night Waltz,” “Red Wing,” and one of William’s favorites, “Forked Deer.” William and Penelope were soon married, and in 1916 they moved to West Texas from Clay County, in north-central Texas.
William and Penelope Mayfield taught all their children, six sons and two daughters, to play musical instruments and sing. The mandolin,m because of its small size and the ease of fretting the strings to form chords, was the first instrument each child learned to play. Later the boys each learned to play the guitar to accompany their father’s fiddling. The sisters would join in to sing old songs like “The Jeweling Pond” and “Life’s Railway to Heaven.” Arnold Geiger, a Santa Fe Railroad worker, taught the boys to play “runs” on their guitars to fill in between the chord changes and rhythm strums. Herb Mayfield remembered that he and his brothers were so interested in music that they would often race in to the house after doing the ranch chores in order to have time to practice. Eventually, Smokey chose the fiddle as his instrument. Too small to hold the full-sized instrument correctly, young Smokey propped the fiddle between his chest and the wall of the barn in order to hold it in position to play. He continued to play in that position, with the fiddle on his chest rather than under his chin, into adulthood.
In addition to radio, the phonograph also brought the sounds of distant musicians to West Texans in the late 1920s and the early 1930s. In the mid-1920s, the recording industry found an audience for “hillbilly” or “mountain music” records in the homes of the rural folk of the Southwest. Increasingly popular, those recordings made their way out to the country music fans of West Texas. The Mayfields would travel thirty miles to a small music store in Hereford to find recordings of the music they liked. Record stores often provided a booth equipped with a record player for a trial listen before he purchase.
Searching for the string music they enjoyed, Herb, Smokey, and Edd came across a recording of Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers. This string band group from northern Georgia recorded during the late 1920s and featured the blind guitarist Riley Puckett. Behind the fiddling of Gid Tanner and Clayton McMichen, Puckett displayed a dazzling array of guitar runs that raised the level of guitar accompaniment to a status almost equal to that of a soloist. This guitar style appealed to the Mayfields, who quickly bought and ordered more Skillet Licker recordings. Each brother tried his hand at deciphering the style of Riley Puckett, and his guitar runs soon became part of their music. Those Puckett-style runs would later serve Edd well during his tenure as a guitarist with Bill Monroe’s band. Monroe was one of the Mayfields’ favorite country performers, and they bought the records of the Monroe Brothers and later those of Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys
The Mayfield family moved off the ranch to Dimmitt in 1932 but continued their ranching and farming activity. Besides leading the rugged life of a cowhand, Edd was active in athletics, playing on the first Dimmitt High School team to go to the state championship. An athletic bent also was apparent in the boys’ love of rodeo competition. Specializing in calf roping and wild cow milking, the brothers won several events. Later, when Edd was living in Indiana, he would use his rodeo skills during visits to Dimmitt to raise money for his family’s return trip.
Edd seems to have been the most performance-oriented of the brothers. Alvie Ivey recalled that Edd brought his guitar to school and, using the covered entry to the basement boiler room as a stage, entertained the other students during recess.
After military service in World War II, the brothers returned to Dimmitt to resume their farming and ranching life, and they continued to play music together for their own entertainment. They chose their instruments to achieve band sound: Edd concentrated on the guitar, Smokey, the fiddle; and Herb, the mandolin, the better to imitate the sound of the Monroe band with Flatt, Scruggs, and Wise. Although the Mayfield Brothers never featured a banjo, often considered the hallmark of the bluegrass sound, they nonetheless thought of themselves as disciples of the Monroe bluegrass style.
An army buddy of Edd’s sparked increased activity for the MAyfield brothers. Bill Myrick, from Monroe, Louisiana, had worked for Bill Monroe as a driver and singer and had promoted some Monroe appearances in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South shortly after the wear. Myrick and Edd had kept in touch, and with Edd’s encouragement, in March of 1950 Myrick moved to West Texas to join the Mayfield Brothers as guitarist and singer. The group performed as Bill Myrick and the Mayfield Brothers.
Throughout 1950, Myrick and the Mayfields appeared as regulars on the weekly KSEL Jamboree in Lubbock. Their fifteen-minute segment of bluegrass music opened many of the Saturday night broadcasts. Sonny Curtis, in grade school at the time, remembered hearing the Mayfields on the jamboree, and he saw them as the stars of the show: “They had a lot of charisma and really played good back in those days. Edd could just hang in there with the best of them, I thought.”
Promoter Dave Stone recalled that Bill Myrick and the Mayfield Brothers would just “disrupt the show when they would come in and walk around the arena. Whoever was on stage was practically not heard because they would get such a hand, walking down the aisle.”
In the late 1950s Bill Myrick promoted concerts by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys in Amarillo, Plainview, Big Spring, and Lubbock, with Bill Myrick and the Mayfield Brothers as the opening act. Also on the Plainview date were the West Coast-based Maddox Brothers and Rose,a popular country group who performed in West Texas many times during their career.k Although the shows were not well attended, it was an exhilarating few days for the Mayfields. Herb recalled being amazed that Monroe and his musicians played so well, with breath-taking tempos, outstanding harmonies, and flawless instrumental skill. It was no wonder that Herb, Smokey, and Edd were thrilled with the music, for it featured, in addition to Monroe on mandolin and vocals, Jimmy Martin on lead vocals and guitar, Rudy Lyle on banjo, and Red Taylor on fiddle–one of Monroe’s great bands. It was a heady time for the three brothers. This was Monroe’s first meeting with the Mayfields, and he was impressed with their performances, commenting to Herb that he especially liked their version of the Browns Ferry Four’s “Keep on the Firing Line.”
Myrick also arranged for the group to have a guest spot ion the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport. Bill Myrick and the Mayfield Brothers appeared on the Hayride in April 1951 and were such a hit that they were included in a feature article about the radio program in Shreveport Magazine. The novelty of “FOUR COWPUNCHERS from Dimmitt, Texas” playing hillbilly music appealed to the management, audience, and media. The band was so well received that regular Hayride member Webb Pierce gave up his fifteen-minute spot so that they could perform again. Later that same night, as a result of the audience response and their obvious talents, Myrick and the Mayfields were offered a regular spot on the Hayride that would begin in two weeks.
Upon his return to the hotel that night, Edd received a message to cal Bill Monroe. Monroe, remembering Edd’s singing and playing skills, had called to offer him a job in his band. It was a terrible dilemma for the group, but after some discussion they decided that Edd should not pass up this opportunity. This was to be the first of three stints for Edd under Monroe’s tutelage. Myrick tried working the Hayride with another group but eventually moved back to Odessa in West Texas, where he worked variously as a police officer, country disc jockey, bandleader, and concert promoter. Herb and Smokey returned to West Texas and continued their careers in ranching and farming, performing only periodically.
Edd’s West Texas background made a big impression on his fellow Bluegrass Boys. Many of Monroe’s sidemen who worked with Edd shared the same observation: “He was a real cowboy, you know.” Edd always kept a rope with him and would keep in practice by roping his fellow band members. Banjo player Larry Richardson fondly remembered Edd demonstrating his roping skill by having Larry run as fast as he could, and then Edd would rope and pull him to the ground.
Bobby Hicks, fiddler on many of Monroe’s classic recordings, noted Edd’s physical strength, which was required of the rhythm guitarists in the early days of country music, when sound-reproduction technology was primitive and guitars unamplified. Edd, said Hicks, could “chord a guitar all day long and not get tired.” In addition to his endurance and power, Edd’s rhythm guitar playing was musically as strong and solid as that of any who had performed with Monroe. Monroe banjoist Joe Drumright said of Edd, “You couldn’t get him out of time, and he played some of the best backing notes you ever heard in your life. Edd was way ahead of his time. There wasn’t anyone even close to him back them.” Eventually, Edd would record one of the rare guitar solos to appear on a Monroe recording with his bass string rendition on “Panhandle Country.”
Vocally, Edd was a perfect match to Monroe’s singing, according to John Hartford, banjo player, fiddler, writer, and composer of “Gentle on My Mind.” Hartford was backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in the late 1950s and heard what he identified as Monroe’s powerful, stylized singing coming from one of the dressing rooms. On searching out the Monroe sound, he was surprised to find it was Mayfield.
On October 28, 1951, during his first stint with Monroe, Edd recorded “The First Whippoorwill” and “Christmas Time’s A-Coming,” both destined to become bluegrass standards.” Edd stayed with Monroe from 1951 until early 1952 and then returned to Texas. Monroe was having difficulty getting show dates, and as a result he could not pay enough to attract and keep musicians. Brother Herb recalled that Edd could not make enough to support his family by playing with Monroe. At the end of one of his stints as a Bluegrass Boy, Edd was so broke that Herb and Smokey had to drive to Bean Blossom, Indiana, where Edd was living, and provide the transportation and money to get him back to texas.
Back in Texas, Edd worked as a cowboy and gain played with his brothers, who were appearing as the Green Valley Boys on a daily show on radio station KGNC in Amarillo. The brothers drove to Amarillo on Saturdays and recorded a whole week of programs, which were sponsored by a Ford dealership and a lumber yard. During the week they enjoyed listening to their own music on the radio each afternoon.
In early 1953 Edd once again moved east, this time to work with Bill Monroe’s brother Birch, who managed Bill’s country music show, the Brown County Jamboree, in Bean Blossom, Indiana. Operating out of an old barn, Birch ran the weekend shows that Bill booked, featuring some local musicians and headlined by Bill’s fellow Grand Ole Opry acts. Edd, Birch, and banjoist Larry Richardson performed as the house band and opening act or accompanied the featured solo artist if need be. While in Bean Blossom, Edd and his family and Larry Richardson made a trip back to Dimmitt for a two-week visit. Richardson, from North Carolina, was one of the earliest banjo players performing in the three-fingered picking style popularized by Earl Scruggs just a few years before. During the visit, Richardson played frequently in the area with Herb, Smokey, and Edd. Larry was the first banjo player of this style that Herb Mayfield had ever played with, and he believes that Larry was the first such player that many of his musician friends on the plains had ever seen. After his return to Bean Blossom, Edd got a call from Bill Monroe to rejoin the band, replacing Jimmy Martin. On June 26, 1954, Edd recorded some more classic Monroe material, including “Close By,” “My Little Georgia Rose,” and “Put My Little Shoes Away,” all vocal solos by Monroe. In September of that year Edd participated in a new recording of an earlier Monroe hit, “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Few of the recordings of this period featured Edd as Monroe’s singing partner, as most cuts were vocal solos by Monroe.
Again the pay was not enough to support a wife and growing family, and Edd returned to Dimmitt. This time he went to work for rodeo producer Morris Stevens of Silverton, Texas. Edd handled the Stevens livestock that wa used in the major rodeos in the Texas panhandle, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. He also entered a number of these rodeos as a contestant. But the Texas ranch life was not enough for Edd. He had a vision of a music career of his own, or perhaps with his brothers.
At Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico, Herb, Smokey, and Edd recorded “Poison Love” and had about ten demo copies pressed, as Herb said, “with the hope of trying to get a record contract in Nashville.” This was mostly Edd’s idea, as Herb doubted that he would or could have made the move if they had gotten record deal, due to family nd work obligations.
After Edd’s final return to Nashville in early 1958, he recorded a number of songs with Monroe, alter released on the gospel album I Saw the Light. Edd sang lead and some tenor in the quartets and played guitar on two instrumentals, “panhandle Country,” and “Scotland.” This was Edd’s last recording session as a Bluegrass Boy. While on tour with Monroe, he succumbed to leukemia in a hospital in Blueflield, West Virginia, in July 1958.
In all, Edd Mayfield's recorded output includes only the twenty songs he made as a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, the Mayfield Brothers’ demo, and one live recording sought by collectors. The studio recordings make up some of Monroe’s most powerful and fertile music and reveal Edd as one of the finest guitarists and singers in the long line of outstanding musicians who have contributed to Monroe’s bluegrass sound. This relatively small library of recorded material, coupled with Edd’s early death, has led Doug Green, country music historian and former Bluegrass Boy, to label Edd Mayfield “the mystery man” of bluegrass.
Many of the talented young performers of bluegrass emerging during the 1960s looked to Edd Mayfield as a source of power in the music. Peter Rowan, a guiding figure in the urban youth involvement in bluegrass music and pivotal member of Monroe’s band from 1965 through 1967, sang a song he learned from a rare, noncommercial tape recording of a Monroe show featuring Edd Mayfield. On this tape Edd sang “I’m Knocking on Your Door” and a Red Taylor composition, “I’m Not Broke But I’m Badly Bent.” Rowan recorded “I’m Knocking on Your Door” on the album Old and in the Way and titled one of his own albums The First Whippoorwill, the first song Edd recorded with Monroe. Mandolinist David Grisman also heard that tape and recorded the Red Taylor song, using Ricky Skaggs as the vocalist.
In addition to Edd’s influence in Bluegrass,s the Mayfield Brothers’ radio performances and their personal appearances in the West Texas region are important early memories of many of the musical greats to come from West Texas. Sonny Curtis, Waylon Jennings, and Buddy Holly all heard and were inspired by the music of the Mayfield Brothers.
After the band’s active period of performance in the 1950s, Herb, al welder in Dimmitt, continued to sing and play in area bluegrass jam sessions, and Smokey, foreman of the Turkey Track Ranch near Spearman, played only occasionally at family get-togethers. On May 6, 1989, a tribute to the Mayfield Brothers was held at South Plains College in Levelland with a concert performed to a full house by Herb, Smokey, Edd’s son Freddy, and Smokey’s son Clint.


The Mayfield Brothers
Patuxent Music has released a new CD of vintage recordings from 1948-1956 entitled “The Mayfield Brothers - Herb, Smokey & Edd.”
The CD, produced by Tom Mindte, includes twenty-one songs. Six of the songs were originally recorded at Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico circa 1955-56 (Poison Love, The Old Hometown, Mother was Called Away, When You Go, Don’t Write to Me, Lonely Heart Blues, Pardon My Whiskers While I Kiss You Goodnight). The remaining material presented here was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder in the living room of Lorena Curtis, sister of the Mayfield Brothers, between 1948 and 1956.
All of these recordings had been transferred to cassette tapes at some point in the past. When the time arrived for this project, the original tapes and/or discs had been lost, damaged, destroyed, or were otherwise unavailable, so it is these cassette tapes that serve as the actual source recordings for this CD. The cassette material was subsequently remastered by Bill Wolf at Wolf Productions.
As observed in the biographical notes, each of the Mayfield Brothers had learned to play mandolin and guitar while growing up. Various songs and tunes on this CD feature brothers Herb and Smokey on rhythm guitar, in addition to the rhythm and lead guitar work of Edd Mayfield. As was more common in his day, Edd played rhythm guitar with a thumbpick. Edd was way ahead of his contemporaries, however, when it came to playing lead guitar, almost unheard of in bluegrass music at the time. Remarkably, Edd’s lead guitar playing was done with a thumbpick. Herb Mayfield remembers that Edd would “clamp the bottom edge of that thumbpick with his finger and play it like a straight pick.”  returning to the thumb-style rhythm at the end of the guitar solo. Interestingly, at times on the CD, Edd’s guitar sounds almost like an electric or amplified guitar; on those songs, Edd was actually playing a Dobro guitar that had a regular Spanish-style guitar neck.
CD’s are available at Prairie Garden Flowers and MurMur’s in Spearman for $13.50 each.
Following are the songs included on “The Mayfield Brothers” CD.
1. I’m Knockin’ On Your Door (by Edd Mayfield) Kentucky Colonel Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle; Raeford Shirley - Bass
2. Arizona Moon (Raeford Shirley & George Green) Patuxent Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Delmar Shirley - Fiddle; George Green - Bass
3. Midnight Ramble (Ruby Rakes) Fort Knox Music/Trio Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle
4. When You Go, Don’t Write to Me (Smokey Mayfield) Patuxent Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Lead Vocal, Tenor Vocal on Chorus; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle, Lead Vocal on Chorus; George Green - Bass
5. Poison Love (Anglin/Wright) Rightsong Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Tenor Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin, Lead Vocal; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle; George Green - Bass
6. Cotton Eyed Joe (p.d.) Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Lead Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle
7. The Old Hometown (Flatt) APRS, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Tenor Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin, Local Vocal on Verse, Baritone Vocal on Chorus; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle, Lead Vocal on Chorus
8. Mother Was Called Away (Smokey Mayfield) Patuxent Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Tenor Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin, Baritone Vocal; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle, Lead Vocal
9. Lonely Heart Blues (Edd Mayfield) Patuxent Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Lead Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle; George Green - Bass
10. My One and Own (Smokey Mayfield) Pantuxent Music, BMI; Herb Mayfield - Guitar; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle, Lead Vocal
11. High Plains Breakdown (Smokey Mayfield) Pantuxent Music, BMI; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle; Ed Mayfield - Lead Guitar; Herb Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar
12. On and On (Bill Monroe) Hill & Range Songs; Edd Mayfield - Guitar, Lead Vocal, Tenor Vocal on Chorus; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin, Baritone vocal; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle, Lead Vocal on Chorus
13. Rocky Mountain Goat (Herb Mayfield) Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Guitar
14. Just a Little Talk With Jesus (Derricks) Bridge Building Music, Inc., BMI; Edd Mayfield - Lead Guitar, Tenor Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin, Baritone Vocal; Smokey Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocal; Reuben Mayfield - Bass Vocal
15. Pardon My Whiskers While I Kiss You Goodnight (Wayne Raney) Fort Knox Music/trio Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Guitar; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle, Lead Vocal; George Green - Bass
16. Sawing on the Strings (Compton) Lewis Compton Music, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Lead Guitar, Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle
17. Bill Cheatam (P.D.) Edd Mayfield l- Guitar; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin
18. Holiday for Love (Peddy/Pierce/Walker) Universal Cedarwood Publishing, BMI; Edd Mayfield - Lead Guitar, Lead Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Mandolin; Smokey Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar
19. Black Mountain Rag (P.D.) Edd Mayfield - Lead Guitar; Herb Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar; Smokey Mayfield - Fiddle
20. Where Could I Go But to the Lord? (Coats) Bridge Building Music, Inc., BMI; Edd Mayfield - Lead Guitar, Tenor Vocal; Herb Mayfield - Baritone Vocal; Smokey Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocal
21. I Have Found the Way (Charlie Monroe) Berwick Music Corp. BMI; Edd Mayfield - Lead Guitar, Tenor Vocal; Smokey Mayfield - Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocal