Notes
My name is James Maddox. I grew up on a farm in North Georgia and at the age of about 14 years while plowing in the fields at night on an ole John Deer tractor, I would sing to the top of my lungs to anything that was willing to listen. Some times I would get foxes and other varmints to come out of the woods and listen. Probably, one of the happiest days of my life was when I first struck a tune on an ole Harmony six string that belonged to a friend of mine. I remember the first time that I ever got three notes to sound like they went together, I thought to my self, boy, 'I'm on my way now.' And then I got married at a very young age and even though I never stopped dreaming about being a singer, it all got put aside until recently when my wife Jackie and my son Mathew started to encourage me to full fill the life long dream that I've always had. So now, here I am writing and singing again, and loving every moment. I love to write songs that deal with love, more so, than any other type song. I also like to write songs that are on a more personal level, such as using personal names. Even if the name of the person hearing the song isn't the same name in the song, it still causes that person to have a more personal relation with the song. I guess most people take names for granted not realizing how important names really are. Names are an expression of love, strength and friendship which are the things that really matter. For example, I named one of my daughters, 'Jeiellyn Bath'jamin' which means, 'Gate Keeper, The Daughter of James.' I plan to keep writing and singing as long as any one cares to listen. I love the way country music was when it was still country! And that's how I like to express the feelings in what I write. And if you would like to express your thoughts and feelings about this, or have any comment please feel free to e-mail me from this web site. I want to tell a short story about one of the songs on this album titled: "You're Still The Man In Black" I had wanted to write a song about Johnny Cash For sometime. I was working on some tunes at the studio one day...and I mentioned it to my good friends Ed Gowens (owner and founder of Echota Records and Recording Studio) and Tim Hicks (one of the best recording engineers in the business) (who are also members of the Higher Ground Band) so, we put pen to paper and wrote what has come to be our Tribute Song to Johnny. We finished recording the song September, 11 2003 about o'clockck in the evening and had planned to send Johnny a copy the next day...but the sad news we heard that morning was that Johnny had passed away abouo'clocklock that morning...Johnny never got to hear his song, but his fans around the world have. A D.J. and great friend of ours, RW Arnold at WJTH Radio knew that we were working on the song and made a plea on the air that morning...if anyone knew how to contact me to bring him a copy of the song if it was finished...it happened that I was listening to him that morning and rushed him a copy right away...as soon as the song aired, a local news paper called and wanted to have an interview with RW and myself at the radio station and did a front page headline about the song...then other news papers got the news off the wire and did headliners also...then WDEF TV in Chattanooga, TN picked up the news and called for an interview and ran it as headline news report...on our way to WDEF TV...my wife Jackie and I stopped off at a Clear Channel Radio Station in Dalton, Ga. And she took the song in and asked them if they would play it...they listened to the song and agreed to play it...and that's just not something they normally do for an indie artist...I guess something like a miracle must have happened...they not only played it but it went out on the entire Clear Channel Network...and while we were in route to the TV station, the manager at Clear Channel found out that we were headed there and call the TV station and asked them to send a news person
