Similar Artists
John Campbell,John Mellencamp,Credence,John Hyatt
Influences
Ry Cooder, Hammond/ Fogerty,Bonnie Raitt,
Bio
Compton Maddux/ singer-songwriter (ASCAP)
97 1st Ave.
Nyack, NY 10960
(914) 715-1310
e-mail : Barn707@aol.com.
Influences:
“Mama was a singer/ I’m a singer too
Daddy saw her sing one night/
And it cut his heart right through.”
Compton Maddux-- his real name/ was born in New York City. His mother gave him two last names so he would become a distinguished writer like Tennessee Williams or Flannery O’Connor. After an idyllic youth eating apples, stealing corn and setting fires he was sent away to school where he was steeped like a tea bag in the classics-- Homer, Shakespeare and Bob Dylan.
In college he consorted with poets Ed Dorn, Tony Hecht and Steven Spender. He became a singer-songwriter because it was so hard being quiet and well-heeled at poetry readings. It was there he sang lead in the band GASOLINE. Magic Carpet Ride and Five to One. After college he moved to Cambridge (not England) and penned articles on the nuclear power industry for the Real Paper and the Boston Phoenix. He went to see Muddy Waters at Pauls’ Mall. Often. It was during this time he hooked up and toured with the OUTERSPACE BAND. When the band broke up he traveled copiously with the international performance organization Project Troubador playing in Central and South America, Africa and Asia.
Living in NYC in the early 80's he played numerous venues most notably the Lone Star.
All the time he continued to tour and play in the OSpace Band but began to venture into solo performances.In 1990 a dutch producer saw him saw him play at Sun Mountain Cafe which led to the making and release of his 1st album FEET OF CLAY. He spent a year in the studio and emerged with "really good time". Album fetured guest spots by John Leventhal, Richie Havens,Lucy Kaplansky, Jeff Golub and Jim Lauderdale. Compton penned all the tunes, sang and played accoustic and slide guitars. Late nineties saw him play 110 nights/ 1 night a week for two years at the BMW Bar in Manhattan. "There is nothing like a continuous live gig to hone yr writing and performance. This gig allowed me to get smaller and less dependent on production. My next record came directly out of that experience. I didn't want o build tracks/ I wanted to capture a performance."
So his new album DIRT SIMPLE is an accoustic based blues-Appalachian weld along the lines of Allison Krause and Steve Earle. The material is peppered with humor and irony."I like to put sex and
religion in close proximity and paint the America that I would like to exist..." Players on this album include Allison Cornell (Shania Twain) on fiddle and Bill Ruyle on hammer dulcimer. It was recorded live on a rainy
night.."This album is like magic to me.....it's like I dreamed it and it came true. I can't think of a place I would rather live musically. I think i got real lucky with the people, the music and the moment."