From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Aug 15, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Rose Maddox
 
ROSE MADDOX (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born Roselea Arbana Maddox, 15 August 1925, near Boaz, Alabama
Died 15 April 1998, Ashland, Oregon

Rose Maddox is one of the most influential woman in country music,
often cited by other female artists such as Jean Shepard, Kitty Wells,
Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. She is also revered by Buck Owens,
Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.
But life hasn't been too kind to Rose. Born as the last of eight children
from poor Alabama sharecroppers, she and her family moved to California
during the Dust Bowl days in 1933, ending up picking fruit for a living in the
Joaquin Valley. The musically gifted Maddox children soon got a radio show
on KTRB in Modesto in 1937, with young Rose taking up the vocals and,
with success coming in, on KFBK in Sacramento in 1939, billed as The
Maddox Brothers and Rose.
In 1942, war put a halt to their music, with the Maddox brothers drafted
and Rose married and pregnant. The group's activities were resumed after
the war and their manic stage antics and colourful (loud?) western clothes
(designed by manager - mother Lula Maddox) gained them the "America's
Most Colorful Hillbilly Band" tag.
They signed with the newly-formed 4 Star label in 1946 and recorded for them
until 1951. The material recorded (reissued on 2 Arhoolie CDs) reflects the
repertoire of their current act and gives an idea of their performance on stage!

The Woody Guthrie composition "Philadelphia Lawyer" became their first big hit.

With fame came a move to Hollywood and to major label Columbia in 1951
for which they recorded lots of pre-rockabilly tracks and covers of black R&B
such as Ruth Brown's "Wild Wild Young Men" and Ray Charles' "I Got A
Woman" retitled "The Death Of Rock'n'Roll".
A very successful act within the country music field (albeit being fired
from the Grand Ole Opry in 1957!), the wild and hard driving music of the
Maddox Brothers with its heavy slapped bass and powerful rhythm is now
revered by the rockabilly fraternity.
In 1956, the family drifted apart and Rose went solo, first for Columbia,
and by 1959, for Capitol where she had a string of country hits during the
early 1960s, even recording the very first woman bluegrass album with Bill
Monroe in 1962. Relocated to the West Coast, she continued to perform
and record for Starday, Takoma, Rounder and Arhoolie.
Marred with heart problems, Rose had several heart attacks but she carried
on till the fatal one in 1998. Country music had lost one of its most talented
singers.

More info : http://www.rockabillyhall.com/MaddoxRose.html
Recommended reading:
Jonny Whiteside, Ramblin' Rose : The Life and Career of Rose Maddox.
Nashville : Country Music Foundation Press / Vanderbilt University Press, 1997.

Recommended listening:
- Maddox Brothers And Rose "Americas Moost Colorful Hillbilly Band Vol 1"
1946-51 ARHOOLIE CD 391 (4 Star recordings)
- Maddox Brothers And Rose "Americas Moost Colorful Hillbilly Band Vol 2"
1947-51 ARHOOLIE CD 437 (4 Star recordings)
- Maddox Brothers And Rose "The Most Coolorful Hillbilly Band In America"
4 CD Box Set BEAR FAMILY BCD 15850 (Columbia recordings)
- Rose Maddox "The One Rose"
4 CD Box Set BEAR FAMILY BCD 15743 (Capitol recordings)