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Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis (born May 12, 1921 – died June 27, 1986), was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 guitarist
Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres....
. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1948.

One of the flashiest country
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Joe Maphis was known as The King of the Strings. He was able to play many stringed instruments with great facility. However, he specialized in dazzling guitar virtuosity. Working out of Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is a large city at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California, California, United States. It is one of the fastest-growing large-population cities in the USA, and is located roughly equidistant between Los Angeles and Fresno, California, to the south and north respectively....
, he rose to prominence with his own hits such as "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music)" as well as playing with acts like Johnny Burnette
Johnny Burnette

John Joseph "Johnny" Burnette was a Rockabilly pioneer. Along with his older brother Dorsey Burnette and a friend named Paul Burlison, Johnny Burnette was a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio....
, Doyle Holly
Doyle Holly

Doyle Floyd Hendricks, known by the stage name Doyle Holly was an United States musician best known as the bass guitar player of the country music band Buck Owens and the Buckaroos....
, The Collins Kids
The Collins Kids

The Collins Kids were a juvenile rockabilly duo, featuring sister Lawrencine "Lorrie" Collins and younger brother Lawrence "Larry" Collins . Their hits, such as "Hop, Skip and Jump", "Beetle Bug Bop" and "Hoy Hoy", were geared towards kids, but their infectious singing and playing crossed over generations....
, Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson

Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American rockabilly and country music singer who had success in the mid-50s and the 60s. She resides in Oklahoma City, OK....
, Rose Maddox
Rose Maddox

Roselea Arbana "Rose" Brogdon was an United States country music singer/songwriter/fiddle player. She is referred to as "The Original Hillbilly Filly" and "The Grandmother of Rockabilly"....
 and Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson

Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson, later known as Rick Nelson , was an United States singer, musician and actor. With more than 50 Billboard Hot 100 hits, Nelson was second to Elvis Presley as the most popular rock and roll artist of the late 1950s....
.






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Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis (born May 12, 1921 – died June 27, 1986), was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 guitarist
Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres....
. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1948.

One of the flashiest country
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Joe Maphis was known as The King of the Strings. He was able to play many stringed instruments with great facility. However, he specialized in dazzling guitar virtuosity. Working out of Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is a large city at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California, California, United States. It is one of the fastest-growing large-population cities in the USA, and is located roughly equidistant between Los Angeles and Fresno, California, to the south and north respectively....
, he rose to prominence with his own hits such as "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music)" as well as playing with acts like Johnny Burnette
Johnny Burnette

John Joseph "Johnny" Burnette was a Rockabilly pioneer. Along with his older brother Dorsey Burnette and a friend named Paul Burlison, Johnny Burnette was a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio....
, Doyle Holly
Doyle Holly

Doyle Floyd Hendricks, known by the stage name Doyle Holly was an United States musician best known as the bass guitar player of the country music band Buck Owens and the Buckaroos....
, The Collins Kids
The Collins Kids

The Collins Kids were a juvenile rockabilly duo, featuring sister Lawrencine "Lorrie" Collins and younger brother Lawrence "Larry" Collins . Their hits, such as "Hop, Skip and Jump", "Beetle Bug Bop" and "Hoy Hoy", were geared towards kids, but their infectious singing and playing crossed over generations....
, Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson

Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American rockabilly and country music singer who had success in the mid-50s and the 60s. She resides in Oklahoma City, OK....
, Rose Maddox
Rose Maddox

Roselea Arbana "Rose" Brogdon was an United States country music singer/songwriter/fiddle player. She is referred to as "The Original Hillbilly Filly" and "The Grandmother of Rockabilly"....
 and Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson

Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson, later known as Rick Nelson , was an United States singer, musician and actor. With more than 50 Billboard Hot 100 hits, Nelson was second to Elvis Presley as the most popular rock and roll artist of the late 1950s....
. His playing was an influence on such greats as Merle Travis
Merle Travis

Merle Robert Travis was an United States country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the exploitation of coal miners....
, Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant

Jimmy Bryant was a prominent United States session guitarist. He was billed as "The Fastest Guitar in the Country"....
 and Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins

Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins was an influential American guitarist and record producer.His picking style, inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes and Les Paul, brought him admirers both within and outside the country scene, both in the United States and internationally....
. He was known for his use of a double-neck Mosrite
Mosrite

HistoryMosrite is an United States guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s....
 guitar, specially built for him by Semie Moseley
Semie Moseley

Semie Moseley was a guitar maker and the founder of Mosrite guitars....
, which was a boon to Moseley's fledgling career as a guitar builder. He was a regular guest on the Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean is an United States country music singer, television Host , actor, and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the founder of the Jimmy Dean , he first rose to fame for his country crossover hits like "Big Bad John," and for his television appearances....
 television show in the 1960s.

Joe's guitar hero was Mother Maybelle Carter, matriarch of the Carter Family. Her daughter June Carter Cash and husband Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll , as well as blues, folk music and Gospel music....
 so admired Joe's guitar playing that Joe is buried in a Hendersonville, TN cemetery next to Maybelle, her husband, Ezra Carter (A.P.'s brother), and daughter, Anita Carter
Anita Carter

Ina Anita Carter was the youngest daughter of Ezra and Maybelle Carter .She was a versatile singer who experimented with several different types of music and played stand-up bass guitar alongside her sisters Helen Carter and June Carter Cash in the famed country music act the Carter Sisters....
.

Mosrite guitar

Today, manufactures a remake of the Mosrite
Mosrite

HistoryMosrite is an United States guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s....
 guitar, recreated by guitar luthier
Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments. The word luthier comes from the French language word wikt:en:luth#French which is French for "lute"....
 Terry N. McArthur. Singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw

Marshall Crenshaw is an United States singer, songwriter and guitarist. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he grew up in the suburb of Berkley, Michigan....
 has said "If I ever buy another guitar it'll be one of these."

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