Shimmy Shakin’ Daddy - The Maddox Brothers and Rose 1950

“Shimmy Shakin’ Daddy“ was recorded in 1950 by The Maddox Brothers and Rose band who garnered the title as America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. They are considered to be the founders of what would later be called “rockabilly“ music. As Depression-era refugees, the Maddox family rode the rails and hitch-hiked from Alabama to California in 1933 when the siblings were still young. They struggled to make a living as itinerant fruit and vegetable pickers by following the harvest. Sick of trying to make it as laborers, they decided to form a band. The family developed their musical ability and, in 1937, the group performed on a radio station sponsored by a local furniture store at which time an 11 year girl named Rose joined the band. No one would deny that their various western stage outfits encompassed all the hues of the rainbow. They were a reasonably talented bunch of singers, and albeit rudimentary musicians, but were filled with an endless stream of adrenaline, a riotous sense of humor and vitality, which was balanced with just the right blend of musical exuberance. Their material ranged from the country standards of Hank Williams and Merle Travis, cowboy songs, to the Western swing of Bob Wills, to old-time, folk, and church singing, to jazz, swing, boogie-woogie, and even a taste of early rock and roll making them one of the first rockabilly bands if not the first. It’s been noted that The Maddox Brothers and Rose may have influenced the style of Elvis Presley as well.