ROSE MADDOX

     Boaz native, Rose Maddox, began singing at the age of 11 in the
migrant camps and honky tonks of California during the Great
Depression. With her brothers, the Maddox Brothers and Rose
became known as "the most colorful hillbilly band in America".

     The music the band played was a raucous and exuberant mixture
of folk music, old-time country music, gospel, jazz, swing and
boogie-woogie. Often called "Okie Boogie," it not only
influenced later country music but even helped lay the
groundwork for rock 'n' roll. Their flashy stage costumes,
featuring embroidered cowboy/Mexican garb, became a trademark
for the band and defined country costuming for a generation.     

     From her California base, Rose Maddox scored 15 country hits
between 1947 and 1964, three of them top ten smashes. She was a
West Coast mainstay long before the Bakersfield Sound of the
1960's. Teaming with Bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, Rose
recorded what is considered to be the definitive female
bluegrass collection.

     Rose Maddox is a country music pioneer who helped pave the way
for later women artists and whose classic performances over the
years influenced many other singers, from Janis Joplin and Linda
Ronstadt to Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. 

     Rose Maddox is the recipient of the 1997 Alabama Music Hall of
Fame John Herbert Orr Pioneer Award.