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| INTERVIEWS ARCHIVES RESCHEDULED |
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Name: Dave Maggard
Date: Friday May 9th, 2008
Time: 1:00pm EDT
Website: Not Available
Interviewer: Gracie Muldoon
Description:
Dave Maggard grew up in Eastern Kentucky near the town of Hyden in
Leslie County. He was playing bluegrass music on WKIC A.M. radio at
the age of 13 when he was beginning high school, the group was known
as The Hyden Hilltoppers' and consisted of Ben and Dave Maggard, Ed
Combs and Fred Davidson who were all his high school buddies, this 15 minute
radio show grew into a three hour show when they combined time slots with three other groups and joined forces with the most well known artist on WKIC radio, George Davis The Singing Miner.
Dave continued to play music both bluegrass and country music until he decided to call it quits in 2005. Throughout the years he played with several
groups including The Coal Country Grass, which consisted of Dave on bass ,Ben Maggard rhythm and lead guitar, David Maggard Jr. on drums, Johnny Bruce Maggard on mandolin, Elias Collett on banjo. This group
performed for seven years together. Dave started writing songs in the early 60's and met another young writer and
became lifetime friends with Jack Spencer who lived in Lexington, Ky. Jack was a native of Wolfe County in Eastern Kentucky. This was the
beginning of a long writer collaboration widely known as Maggard/Spencer songs.
In the spring of 1986, Jack paid a visit to Dave for a songwriting session on a Saturday morning in April. Together that day, they wrote two songs one of which won Honorable Mention in a Nashville songwriting contest. The song was titled: "We've Got It Good In Love' the other song entered that received no recognition at
all was titled: 'Lefty's Old Guitar'. Dave gave the song to his cousin, Wayne Fields for consideration of possible recording with his group
Southern Blend. Wayne took the song to Ricky Wasson. Meanwhile the group broke up and Ricky
played 'Lefty's Old Guitar' to J.D. Crowe while playing a festival with him in Texas and
the rest is pretty much history. 'Lefty's Old Guitar' was the title song on J.D. Crowe
& The New South's long awaited 2008 release. The song was nominated for Song of The
Year and also Album of the Year at both IBMA and SPBGMA in 2007. It was also nominated
for a Grammy. It won Album of The Year at IBMA and Song of The
Year at SPBGMA.
Jack Spencer passed away from a brain tumor March 13, 2006 seven months prior to
JD's album release on Rounder Records. Dave continued to play bluegrass music over the years with, Southern Harvest band, and also country music with Gabby Grigsby and The Drifters, Jack Spencer, Dave Maggard and The Silver Strings.
Dave and Jim Gaskin from the Renfro Valley Barndance, are the only two remaining members of the Cumberland Rangers, which consisted of Asa Martin on guitar, Jim Gaskin, (fiddle) Gilbert Thomas, (mandolin) Grady
Brezelle, (autoharp) Dave Maggard, (bass). This group has recordings in The Smithsonian in Washington DC. Dave along with his brother, Ben Maggard, Rex Hunt and Herb Smith were inducted into the Rock-A-Billy Hall Of Fame with a song called, "Come Back Big Bertha" by Rex &
Herb. Dave continues to write songs and sometimes co-writes with his daughter Teresa Maggard also Gracie Muldoon of Worldwide Bluegrass and Dave Carroll from New River Line Band and several other writers.
J D Crowe & The New South, The Circuit Riders, Blue Moon Rising and several other groups have recorded songs by Maggard.
Josh Graves Jr. and Grassy Holler are currently in the process of recording a new cd of Maggard's songs. At present, the band name Grassy Holler is
taken from a song written by Dave Maggard and Gracie Muldoon called: "Bluegrass Pick'n Time In Grassy Holler" so be sure and check this one out when it is released this spring.
Dave and his wife Helen will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary November 15, 2008 and Dave says "It's been a wonderful ride and time flies when you're happy". |
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