Mattea is one of West Virginia’s most successful country singers, with at least 30 Top 40 hits. Raised in Cross Lanes (Kanawha County), she began singing in school and later joined a band at West Virginia University. In 1978, she moved to Nashville and eventually signed with Mercury Records.

Her hit songs include "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses," "Goin’ Gone," and "Come from the Heart," and "Burnin' Old Memories." She won the Country Music Association (CMA) Female Vocalist of the Year in 1989 and 1990 and was one of the first country stars to speak out about AIDS.

After the 2006 Sago mine disaster, she released Coal, an album about coal miners. In 2011, she was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. She later became an artist-in-residence at WVU and, in 2021, took over from Larry Groce as host of Mountain Stage. In 2025, she was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.