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 who got his nickname from his long curly hair.
Scholars tend to divide country music fiddle-playing into two broadly geographical camps: the first, now dominant Texas style is characterised by long smooth bow strokes that allow for improvisational embellishment. The second, more traditional style emerged from the Appalachian foothills in the 19th century and with its saw-stroke bowing, is typically faster and more rhythmic. Fox was among its finest exponents and probably the most influential fiddler in country music history and one of its most popular entertainers of his time.
Fox was born Arnim LeRoy Fox in Graysville, Tennessee, United States, as the son of a barber. He learned to play the fiddle with some help from his father and from James McCarroll, (a member of the Roane County Ramblers). Fox first played professionally on the traveling Indian Medicine Show with Chief White Owl when he was 13; later, he played with Claude Davis and the Carolina Tar Heels in Atlanta, Georgia. Fox founded the Tennessee Firecrackers in the 1930s, performing on WSB-AM in Atlanta. For a time, he worked for promoter Larry Sunbrock on his "fiddling contest" show.
Sunbrock would travel around the country with his fiddlers and arrange "world championship fiddling contests" in towns along the way. Fox played with the Shelton Brothers on recordings they made for Decca Records between 1934 and 1936, in addition to recording a few of his own singles.His 1935 version of Septimus Winner's "Listen to the Mockingbird", cut for Decca, with Joe Attlesey on guitar, with its imitative trills and whoops, and despite an occasionally harsh tone, remains a classic of the genre.
In 1937, Fox met singer Texas Ruby (Ruby Agnes Owens), sister of Tex Owens, while playing in Fort Worth, Texas. They married shortly thereafter in 1939, and began playing together professionally on the Grand Ole Opry, where they performed from 1937–1939 and 1944-1948. From 1940-1944, they became a regular feature on Boone County Jamboree over WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio. The couple was invited to be members of The Opry in the late 1930s. They occasionally recorded together, including a session for King Records in 1947. In 1948, Curly and Ruby moved to Houston, Texas, where they remained for over a decade, working in radio and television. They were amongst the most popular husband- and-wife teams in the business.
In 1960, the pair returned to work on the Grand Ole Opry, but Ruby often fell ill and Fox frequently performed solo. He routinely stopped the show with his trick fiddling: numbers such as "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" and "Black Mountain Rag" proving ideal vehicles for his hillbilly pyrotechnics.He was also a good harmonica player. His harp specialty was novelty tunes such as train imitations and fox race type tunes.
Curly Fox died in November 1995, at the age of 85 and was buried in the Pleasant View Cemetery in Graysville, Tennessee.
(Edited from Wikipedia, The Independent & Yesterday In Denton)