Friends of two country music pioneers will celebrate their memory Saturday with Curly Fox and Texas Ruby Tribute Day at the Rhea County Courthouse. Festival organizer Tom Morgan said the event will feature live music from noon to 6 p.m. in the main courtroom of the courthouse in Dayton, Tenn.
“You don’t have to worry about the weather or bringing a chair,” he said. “Just come and enjoy.”
Morgan is among those scheduled to perform, along with Phil Campbell (son of the late Archie Campbell), Max Tillman, Ed Huey and Lynne Haas.
Arnim Leroy Fox, better known as Curly, was born Nov. 9, 1910, in Graysville, Tenn. Ruby Agnes Owens, who took the stage name Texas Ruby, was born June 4, 1908, in Wise County, Texas. Both were working musicians when they met in 1937, according to published accounts. They married in 1939 and became one of country music’s leading husband-and-wife teams of the 1940s and ’50s.
They appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, on WLW radio in Cleveland, Ohio, and other major radio stations for many years. Fox continued performing following his wife’s death in 1963 before retiring to Graysville in 1976. He died in 1995.