"When I was a kid I always believe' that I was a hog doctor, so every time daddy'd get a bunch of pigs and he'd leave home, I'd give a hog doctorin'. Every time my folks'd leave I'd find two or three of the hogs had appendicitis. And so I messed around and operated on too many of 'em; they begin to get scarce. And so they begin to check on it, and they find out that I was the doctor. After they got through talkin' to me round in the smokehouse, nobody there but me and them, they doctored on me, but the only thing they didn't use no knife! So they gave me the name "Hogman"; I been wearing it off and on ever since."
Working in his father's smithy, Maxey learned the trade of blacksmith and mechanic. He later also became a bulldozer operator.
Growing up in a musical family, Maxey early in life became an expert fiddler. When he was nineteen he started learning to play the guitar in an attempt to win out over a romantic rival. He says:
Really what caused me to get it on my mind was me and another man was sittin' down with one lady between us all night long. So jes' before day the reach back in the window an' picked up a guitar and set it down between us both. So she spoke, 'So now this is yo'alls choice. Is either of yo'll kin pay?' Well, I couldn't play but the other boy could Well, the minute I walked away I says, 'I'm got to learn to play the blues.'"
In 1936 he bought his first guitar? a twelve stringer; also that year he started his own band, which consisted of three guitars, a fiddle, and a washboard with thimbles. The band made good money playing frequently around Jonesboro, Louisiana.
Hogman remarks about the blues:
"Whenever I have the blues that's a lonesome feelin' to have, jest for a man to be standin' around, lonesome. Whenever you sing the blues jest right, why you feels like a million, when you may not have a dime... If you playin' the guitar you got the blues mostly anytime you tune it up. That's the best part of my life is blues."
Hogman Maxey had one unusual practice in his harmony: he employed polytonality, that is he sang in one key and played in another. However, his general style and his chord progressions; like those of Guitar Welch, were strongly influenced by the conventions of most recorded blues. Though both Hogman and Guitar are gifted performers, they were primarily the heirs of a clearly defined and standardized blues tradition, rather than innovators.
~ Dr. Harry Oster