Curly Fox, the fiddle player and longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry who gave the world one of the all-time traditional fiddle tunes, died two weeks ago on Saturday, Nov. 10, just a day after his 85th birthday. Besides helping to popularize songs like “Listen to the Mockingbird” and “Johnson’s Old Gray Mule,” Fox put the traditional fiddle standard “The Black Mountain Rag” on the map. His 1947 King Records recording of the song not only sold well, it also featured the electric lead guitar of Mose Raeger, the man credited with teaching Merle Travis more about playing the electric guitar than anyone else.
Born Arnim LeRoy Fox in Graysville, Tenn., on Nov. 9, 1910, Fox was a member of the Opry during the 1930s and ’40s, and then again in the 1960s. He first appeared on record with the Roane County Ramblers in 1929 and appeared after that with the Shelton Brothers (whose song “Just Because” was immortalized by Elvis Presley during the legendary Sun Sessions) from 1935-36. Fox also recorded for Columbia with his wife and fellow Opry member Texas Ruby during the mid-1940s, before making a full-length album for Starday in early 1963. That same year, Ruby died in a tragic house-trailer fire while Fox was performing on the Opry stage.
Fox, who appeared regularly in later years on the Opry’s Old Timers Night, got the nickname Curly from a station manager at Atlanta’s WSB-AM who told him that no one would remember him if he went on performing under his given name. Thanks to keepers of the traditional country and bluegrass music flame—especially Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs, who noted Fox’s passing and reflected on the master fiddler’s legacy during his Nov. 11 broadcast of WSM-AM’s Classic Saturday—perhaps Fox won’t be so easily forgotten.
The coolest scene in town Sunday, Nov. 12, was the first-anniversary fashion show at the 10th Avenue strip bar Showtime, where a crowd of musicians and figures from the Lower Broad neo-honky-tonk scene turned out to hoot, holler, gobble egg rolls, and show their support for designer and country clothier Katy K, the evening’s hostess. While music ranging from Benny Goodman to Ronnie Dawson blared from the speakers, models garbed as dominatrices, cowgirls and zoot-suited hipsters jitterbugged and sashayed the length of the showbar’s lighted runway.
Among the models, two stars were born. Photographer Jim Herrington, outfitted like a Greenwich Village beatnik circa 1967, drew the loudest cheers of the evening, especially when he did an impromptu pole dance at the end of the show. (His pithy assessment of his performance: “My balls hurt.”) But the lion’s share of the wolf whistles went to kitsch connoisseuse Kristi Rose, voluptuous in a gown reminiscent of Jayne Mansfield’s tongue-snapping wardrobe in The Girl Can’t Help It.
The invitation-only audience was filled with familiar faces, including Chuck Mead, Smilin’ Jay McDowell and Shaw Wilson from BR-549 (who performed after the show on the spacious Showtime runway), Trent Lee Summar of Hank Flamingo, Duane Jarvis, Karin Eaton, Erin Maloney, the Country Music Foundation’s Daniel Cooper, Gruhn Guitars’ Ashley McKnight, and frequent Thrillbilly Lovefest guests Jim and Jon Hager. The Hagers seemed to know their way around a strip bar pretty well—they had a dollar bill ready to stuff into Rose’s costume.
Last year, the Nashville duo Swan Dive issued an engaging cassette of lush cocktail-lounge pop couched in arrangements pitched somewhere between an Esquivel LP and the soundtrack to a Claude Lelouch movie. That tape has now been reworked slightly by songwriter Bill DeMain and chanteuse Molly Felder, and the result is a CD now available at Tower (look under pop) and other local stores under the title You’re Beautiful.
Graced by yet another superb Brad Talbott album package, You’re Beautiful serves up 12 sonic highballs dosed with splashes of banjo, pedal steel, accordion and vibes. With its Europop arrangements (courtesy of producer Brad Jones) and sultry cabaret ambience, it doesn’t sound like anything else released locally all year. Watch for Swan Dive shows in January at the Bluebird and 12th and Porter.
Human Radio, weep no more—the band gets together Nov. 30 at the Ace of Clubs for a special reunion show. In the years since the band’s breakup in 1993, frontman Ross Rice has carved a niche on the city’s pop scene with his new band 6OR7, and violinist Peter Hurka has played with a number of local acts, including Nick Riggins and the Ridge Runners. Human Radio’s 1990 debut remains an art-pop favorite on the strength of acerbic songs like “Me & Elvis” and “My First Million.” The band recently ventured once more into the studio to record their live staple “Love Dungeon” for an upcoming Memphibian Records compilation.
Murfreesboro blues-rockers The Mojo Men have issued an 11-song CD, Meat ’n Three, on their own Stanwillie Music label. Produced by Mojo Men Stan Hedges (guitar), Will Rhodarmer (harmonica), Mark Perrou (bass) and Pat O’Connor (drums), the CD features such titles as “Gas Tank for a Love Machine” and “Willie Dixon Line.” The band plays a record-release party Nov. 30 at Third and Lindsley.
