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13 Facts About Rose Maddox

1.

Rose Maddox was noted for her "reputation as a lusty firebrand", and her "colorful Western costumes"; she was one of the earliest clients of Hollywood tailor, Nathan Turk.

2.

Rose Maddox was born in Boaz, Alabama, and traveled west at the age of seven with her family, who had been sharecroppers.

3.

The station offered her brothers a regular slot on condition that Rose Maddox sing with them, despite the opposition of their mother, who managed the group.

4.

Rose Maddox became noted for her colorful performances, once shocking a Grand Ole Opry audience by appearing with a bare midriff.

5.

Rose Maddox recorded as a duo, Rosie and Retta, with her sister-in-law.

6.

Rose Maddox married club owner Jim Brogdon in the late 1950s; they separated after six years.

7.

Rose Maddox had 14 hits on the Billboard country singles chart between 1959 and 1964, including several duets with Buck Owens, and recorded with Bill Monroe.

8.

Rose Maddox then began to specialize in bluegrass recordings, recording the commercially successful and influential album Rose Maddox Sings Bluegrass for Capitol Records.

9.

Rose Maddox suffered several heart attacks from the late 1960s onwards, but continued to perform and record, for several labels.

10.

Rose Maddox acted in movies including The Hi-Lo Country, and the documentaries The Women of Country and Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin'.

11.

In later years she lived in Ashland, Oregon, near where her brother Don Rose Maddox had bought a ranch in 1958.

12.

Rose Maddox died in Ashland of kidney failure in 1998, at the age of 72.

13.

Emmylou Harris believes Rose Maddox has never received the recognition she deserves, in part because of what Harris calls a reluctance in American society to celebrate the value of white country and roots music.