Lee Rose

Lee Rose was an American country musician and radio host.

Life and career

Lee Rose was born Lee Rosamond in Jacksonville, Texas. During the Second World War, he served in the US Navy for four and a half years. After his discharge, he returned to Texas, where he was soon featured on various radio stations.

Rose made his first recordings for Freedom Records in the late 1940s or 1950s. In 1951, he relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana, and began working for the KCIJ radio station. In 1953, he joined East Texas Hillbilly Jamboree—a short-lived country radio show broadcast by KFRO of Longview, Texas. The two-hour program attracted musicians mainly from Texas, and they included many unknowns who would eventually gain fame. Rose was a long-time member of the program, alongside Bob Shelton and Mike Post. Popular musicians of the time, such as Red Sovine, Johnny Horton, Arlie Duff, Bill Carlisle, and Billy Walker, also made regular guest appearances on the show.

Primarily a country disc jockey, Rose also sang and wrote songs. According to hillbilly-music.com, he had composed around 100 songs by 1951.

In 1953-54, Rose performed live with Buddy Brady (fiddle), Roscoe Clark (guitar), and Jerry Gimble (bass) at Mayfair Auditorium, East Texas State Fairgrounds in Tyler, Texas.

In June 1967, Rose released a two-track album titled Did You Not Respect ("Did You Not Respect" and "I've Got The Downhearted Blues") on Shreveport-based Paula Records. The album was produced by Nat Stuckey (1933 – 1988) and arranged by Robinhood Brians.

Below is one of his most popular songs, "I've Got The Downhearted Blues" (1964) 

There's not much information available about Rose's later years.

Discography