Joe and Frank during the 1999 recording session.
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8/17/26
“The Maloy Brothers vs. the Carnie”
Frank (1928-2020) and Joe (1930-2005) Maloy, from South Georgia, were just about the best and most versatile musicians I ever knew. And the best part for me is - that I got to play music with them. They were among my many mentors along the life’s road. If you’ll allow me to tell you a little bit about how I met them and describe their music, I’ll get into the anecdote before too long.
I attended a party at the second home of my longtime friends and bandmates, Victoria McMullen and Jack Leiderman, in Tifton, Georgia, in 1998. Quite a few musicians from the area attended, including a couple of fellows who didn’t play a note that day. The older of the two brandished a cassette recorder, capturing all the music he could. Several of the other guests pointed and said things like “That’s the fellow you want to hear,” and “Frank and Joe are the best musicians in the state” But Frank and Joe never uncased their instruments that day.
The next time Jack and Victoria went to Georgia (1999), they tracked the brothers down and talked them into playing. Jack called me and said, “You’ve got to record these guys!” He told me they played swing music like Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. So, I went to Georgia and met them. Later that year, I set up a portable studio in the living room of Victoria and Jack’s house and recorded the album, “Time Will Tell.”
Now, a little about Frank and Joe.
Just about everybody in the Maloy family played, so their home was a perfect environment for Frank and Joe, who were learning to play several instruments. But fiddle and guitar called out to them, and their courses were set. Surrounded by music, the brothers learned fast, having the natural talent that we all crave and the determination to strive toward excellence. As they matured musically, they expanded their repertoire of country tunes to include the swing music of the day, classical violin pieces, and music they heard on Saturdays at the picture show. They had long careers as professional musicians that you can read about in the liner notes for the album, “Time Will Tell,” written by Jack Leiderman, which you can find on the Patuxent Music website. Maybe you’ll even buy the album.
This story is about their first professional show.
When Frank was fourteen, and Joe, eleven, they decided they were ready to go into show business. They arranged to put on a performance at the church hall in their hometown of Milan, Georgia and charge a dime at the door. They made some posters to hang up around town to advertise the big event. Riding their bicycles with the posters, hammers, and nails in the baskets, they began nailing the ads on telephone poles and pinning them to bulletin boards. When they were about halfway down Main Street, a car with with New Jersey tags pulled up beside the boys and a man jumped out and hollered. “What are you boys doing, I’m the director of the carnival behind the fire station and you can’t compete with us. Where’s your union card?” Well, the boys had no idea what a union card was, and they didn’t know what to say. Just then, the sheriff, who had noticed the confrontation, pulled up in his police car. He said, “I hope you’ve got a good reason for bothering these boys.” The man repeated his request for their union cards. All of a sudden, the sheriff pulled out his big revolver, stuck it right in the man’s nose, and said, “Here’s their union card, these are Dr. Maloy’s boys and they can put on a show whenever they want to, in my town.” The carnival man slunk away, and the residents of Milan had a choice of where to go for entertainment that weekend.
I heard Frank tell this story several times, imitating the carnie’s Jersey accent and the southern drawl of the sheriff. I only wish I had recorded it.
I miss the Maloys and think of them often. After Joe passed away in 2005, Frank continued to host jam sessions a couple of times a year at Jack and Victoria’s place, which they graciously made available. Musicians from The DC area, Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville, Charleston, SC, and and Lafayette, LA, as well as the South Georgia locals, converged on Tifton to learn from and make music with the master. For each of those sessions, Frank wrote out the music notation by hand for about thirty tunes, copied them, and handed them out when we all arrived. We played show tunes, standards, jazz, country songs, and fiddle tunes, one after another, with only a little talk in between.
Frank and Joe Maloy made us all better musicians and better human beings.
Tom Mindte
August 2026
Joe and Frank during the 1999 recording session.
Frank and Joe, 1970s, ready, in case the carnival man comes back.