Rose Lee Maphis

Maphis (pronounced "MAY-fiss")[2] was born Doris Helen Schetrompf on December 29, 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland, to Margaret Helen (Schriever) and Stanley Schetrompf.[3][4] She grew up on a farm in Hagerstown where her family produced eggs and butter, sold Christmas trees and rented out cabins near the river that ran though their property.[5][6] As a child, Maphis listened to the Grand Ole Opry.[7] Rose attended business college after graduating high school in 1941.[2]

Her father hosted a picnic for WJEJ radio, introducing the station to his daughter who sang and played guitar. The station offered her a 15-minute spot on its Saturday night program.[8]

Before performing with her husband, Maphis was featured in a female quartet, a western group called The Saddle Sweethearts, who often played the same bill as Gene Autry[3] and Roy Acuff.[9][10][11] After performing with Saddle Sweethearts, she worked briefly for her father as a bookkeeper. She learned that Mother Maybelle and The Carter Sisters were leaving the Old Dominion Barn Dance and were looking for singers. She met her future husband Joe there.[3] She and her husband would later be called "Mr. and Mrs. Country Music".[1]

A producer suggested the name "Rose of the Mountains" for her on her debut performance on a Hagerstown radio station, as she had a rose in her hair and was singing "Carry Me Back to the Mountains".[3]

Around the 1950s, Maphis and her husband were cast members of the television show Town Hall Party on KTTV in Los Angeles.[12]

The Maphises were best known for the self-penned honky-tonk standard "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)", which was originally recorded by Flatt and Scruggs.[1]

After the death of her husband, she worked as a seamstress at Opryland theme park designing for such stars as Brenda Lee and Barbara Mandrell.[8]

In her later years, and no longer well-known as a major star, she worked voluntarily as a greeter at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum,[3] sharing stories about the genre's legends. Maphis's guitar is on display, next to that of her husband's double-neck Mosrite and sheet music for their recording "Dim Lights", in a montage called The Bakersfield Exhibit.[3]

Rose's last public appearance was on August 7, 2021 in Cumberland, Maryland for a 100th birthday celebration for her late husband.[13][14]

She died of kidney failure on October 26, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 98. She had 3 children, Lorrie, Dale, and Jody.[2] Jody Maphis is also a musician, who has performed with such stars as Johnny Cash.[9][4]

• Wolfe, Charles K.; Akenson, James Edward, eds. (2003). The Women of Country Music: A Reader. University Press of Kentucky. OCLC 900344872.

• Rose Lee Maphis at IMDb 
• Rose Lee Maphis discography at Discogs