Joe Maphis, born Otis Wilson Maphis, was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1953. One of the flashiest country 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.  

Maphis' recording career took off in 1951 when he was invited to Los Angeles by Merle Travis and country music entertainer Johnny Bond. He made two LPs with Travis, recorded for countless country and pop stars and worked on many themes for television programs and movie soundtracks. Maphis recorded for Columbia Records and other labels. Later based in Bakersfield, California, 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, Doyle Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson, Rose Maddox and Ricky Nelson. "Dim Lights" has become a honky-tonk standard with numerous artists recording versions of the tune including Flatt and Scruggs, Vern Gosdin, Daryle Singletary and Dwight Yoakam.  

Maphis was a band member and featured soloist on the Town Hall Party radio (and later television) program broadcast throughout the 1950s. Emanating from the Los Angeles area, Maphis was a regular on the program which including many recording stars of the day including Tex Ritter, Johnny Cash, Gene Autry, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and many others. "Town Hall Party," was later syndicated under the name "Ranch Party," and seen in most parts of the country. He was also a regular guest on the Jimmy Dean television show in the 1960s. Joe and Rose performed on the PBS television broadcast "Austin City Limits," in 1984 as part of the programs, "Legends Series." Fellow music industry insiders and fans had begun calling Joe and Rose, "Mr. and Mrs. Country Music." Maphis was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1985. He died on June 27, 1986. His guitar hero was Mother Maybelle Carter, matriarch of the Carter Family. Maybelle's daughter June Carter Cash and June's husband Johnny Cash so admired Maphis that he was laid to rest in the Cash and Carter family Hendersonville, Tennessee burial plot next to Maybelle, her husband, Ezra Carter, and her daughter, Anita Carter.

SONGS:

1 Give Me Forty Acres (To Turn This Rig Around)

2 Hot Rod Guitar

3 Banjo Boogie Shuffle

4 A Little Bit of Travis

5 Double Neck Boogie

6 Invitation to the Blues

7 Sweet Rosie

8 Coffee Break

9 Scalping the Indians

10 Fiddlin' on the Guitar