ABOUT
Maxfield Anderson is an American roots multi-instrumentalist, teacher, writer, music director and sound engineer currently living in Somerville, MA. As an artist, Maxfield aims to bring new light to honored traditions and to share the joy of making music with others.
Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Maxfield’s home was filled with an array of musical styles. After years of playing violin, his attention was taken hold by bluegrass and western swing fiddle, quickly leading him to discover the mandolin. He soon moved to Boston to study mandolin and American roots music at Berklee College of Music. Additionally, Max is a proficient guitar player, and after a year of isolation, finally broke down and added clawhammer banjo to the repertoire.
Teaching music is a big part of Maxfield’s life and artistry. He believes that traditional music is an excellent vessel for understanding an instrument and finding your own voice as a musician. Max teaches at the Club Passim School of Music, Concord Conservatory of Music, and out of his home studio, offering private instruction on mandolin, fiddle, and guitar, as well as group classes, ensembles, and open jams.
In addition to performing and teaching, Maxfield recently wrote and music directed the 'Homegrown Stringband' roots trio at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH. The trio performed authentic bluegrass, folk, and old time string band music throughout the 2022 summer season. Max also works as a live sound engineer and performance venue manager at the historic Club Passim in Harvard Square.
In 2019 Maxfield released his first full-length record, Racing Back to You, with bluegrass quartet Pretty Saro. Rene Cobar from The Deli Magazine said, “It is the storytelling in each song that makes this group so intriguing…[the record] perfectly incapsulates the spirit of New England folk music.” Emma Finnerty from DigBoston proclaimed “You can stop believing bluegrass is the music of a bygone era right now.”
2022 has brought a handful of new musical opportunities. Most recently, Maxfield played mandolin and acoustic guitar in the new musical The Prince & the Painter at Moonbox Productions’ ‘New Works Festival’. This October, Maxfield will be music directing and playing guitar in Dumb Blonde: The Songs of Dolly Parton, a cabaret starring Tader Shipley in Boston. Currently, Maxfield is in the process of recording his debut solo album, and in the early stages of creating a new Western Swing/Cowboy Music band, Tumbleweed.
Maxfield is a graduate from Berklee College of Music with a BFA in Music Performance. He is an active gigging musician in the Boston music scene, and has toured throughout the Northeast playing listening rooms, ball rooms, bar rooms, back rooms, front porches and festival stages.