Ruby Agnes Owens (June 4, 1908 – March 29, 1963), professionally better known as Texas Ruby, was an American pioneering

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

female vocalist and musician of the late 1930s through to the early 1960s. Her brother was famous as

Tex Owens Tex Owens (June 15, 1892 – September 9, 1962) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best remembered today for writing the Eddy Arnold hit Cattle Call. The youngest of thirteen children, he was born Doie Hensley Owens in Killeen, ...

, the writer of ''Cattle Call''.

Early life

Ruby was born on a ranch in Wise County, Texas, near Decatur, United States. When she was three years old she started to sing, often together with her two brothers. Her career began when a radio station owner in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

radio station heard her sing in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, Texas. In early 1937, she made her debut recording for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. Later that year, she met fellow musician

Curly Fox Arnim LeRoy Fox (November 9, 1910 – November 10, 1995), better known as Curly (or Curley) Fox, was an American old-time and country fiddler, singer and country musician. Biography Fox was born in Graysville, Tennessee, United States, as ...

in Fort Worth. They were married in 1939. The couple was invited to be members of The Opry in the late 1930s.

Career

Ruby was dubbed "radio's original cowgirl". The husky voice star was something of a cross between

Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...

(whom she was often compared to) and

Dale Evans Dale Evans Rogers (born Frances Octavia Smith; October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001) was an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers. Early life Evans was born Frances Octavia Smith on Oc ...

and with her husband, fiddler

was an enormously popular radio and personal appearances star in the 1940s although she failed to have any hit records. Her best-known song, "Don't Let That Man Get You Down" predated

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as " You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My M ...

's stand-up-to-your-man hits by twenty years. This sassy persona was adopted on most of Ruby's recordings, "Ain't You Sorry That You Lied" and "You've Been Cheating on Me", songs perhaps too trailblazing to have been record hits in that very conservative era of country music. Most of Texas Ruby's recordings were done for the King Records and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

labels. Her first sessions were in Dallas for

in February, 1937. Texas Ruby made her first breakthrough in the music industry working with country bandleader

Zeke Clements Zeke Clements (September 6, 1911 – June 4, 1994) was an American country musician often dressed in a Western outfit. He was known as "The Dixie Yodeler." Biography Clements was born near Empire, Alabama. In 1928, his career began when he join ...

but by the mid forties she and husband Fox had developed their own stage act and were much in demand, including a stint as regulars on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

from 1944 to 1948. The Foxes left the Opry and in late 1948 moved to Texas, where most of their concert dates were. The move seemed to push national stardom further away from the duo, who in the early 1960s moved first to Los Angeles (appearing on the ''Town Hall Party'' country music television series) and then back to Nashville in attempts to return to the limelight. Fox, widely considered one of country music's greatest fiddlers, worked the Opry more frequently as background instrumentalist than as a star. On March 29, 1963, while Fox was appearing on the Opry, a fire broke out in the couple's home and Ruby was killed. It was a grim month in Opry history, as Ruby was the fifth Grand Ole Opry star to die that month, following

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

Hawkshaw Hawkins Harold Franklin "Hawkshaw" Hawkins (December 22, 1921 – March 5, 1963) was an American country music singer popular from the 1950s into the early 1960s. He was known for his rich, smooth vocals and music drawn from blues, boogie and honky ...

Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas (July 15, 1913 – March 5, 1963), known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer. He was popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline a ...

, and Jack Anglin. Fox was reinstated as an official Grand Ole Opry member shortly afterward but he retired by 1970.

Personal life

Ruby was the sister of

, who composed

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

's hit "

The Cattle Call "The Cattle Call" is a song written and recorded in 1934 by American songwriter and musician Tex Owens. The melody was adapted from Bruno Rudzinksi's 1928 recording "Pawel Walc". It became a signature song for Eddy Arnold. Members of the Western Wr ...

Notes

References

*Charles K. Wolfe, ''Classic Country: Legends of Country Music'', 2001, Routledge, {{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Ruby 1908 births 1963 deaths American women country singers American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas People from Wise County, Texas Grand Ole Opry members Starday Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers Country musicians from Texas