John Maxfield grew up in Highland, Illinois where he taught himself how to record, play guitar, piano, saxophone, drums, and various other instruments. He attended the Saint Louis Symphony Music School as a teenager, where he met and studied classical and jazz music with Dwight Bosman.

He also studied at SIUE with guitarist Dave Engelke and privately with Gail Dobbins (piano) and Scott Cullen (woodwinds). He was also fortunate enough to attend a public school that had a music program, and has been fundraising for and donating to Vh1′s ‘Save The Music’ fund to raise money for public school music programs.