Ruby Allmond

Early years

Her passion for music began early, fueled by her family's musical talents and interests. Her first stage performance took place when she was just four years old. When she was younger, she used her older brother Raymond's fiddle, and by the time she reached high-school she was determined to be a great fiddle player. This, remember, was during a time when women were not held in the same regard as men in the fiddle playing community. Practicing sometimes as much as eight hours a day, she eventually went on to win the National Champion Lady Fiddler award in 1947, which solidified her as a top fiddler, challenging the idea that women were not worthy competitors in fiddle playing.

In the 1940s Ruby was playing in these shows with two very renowned fiddle players, Georgia “Slim” Rutland and Howard “Howdy” Forrester. Also during this time she was a part of a band that included her two brothers, Raymond and Roy Allmond, who played acoustic rhythm guitars, and Harold Carder, who played stand up bass. She eventually formed her own band, Texas Jamboree, which included Guy Bryant, his children Joyce and Gene Bryant, and Clay Harvey.

Ruby's Music

In 1968, Audra Brock and Ruby decided to take some of Ruby's songs to Nashville. They sent a tape to Bob Jennings, the publisher at RCA. He invited them to a studio for a demo recording session. Ruby sang "Reno", which ended up being recorded by Dottie West and produced by Chet Atkins, was a hit, breaking the Top Ten on the country music charts. Atkins produced several of her songs, and even told Ruby that she was "a great songwriter".

Besides writing songs to be recorded and produced by others, Ruby also wrote songs that were specifically for stage shows. Later on in her career Ruby participated in many local stage shows around the Bonham, Texas area to raise funds for the community. One song that was strongly requested was "Listen to The Mockingbird". The original arrangement came from back in her early fiddling days. She arranged the song in such a way as to highlight her extraordinary fiddle playing. Other crowd favorites like "Honky-Tonk Rock" and "Indian Rock" had obvious country music roots, but also influences from other genres.

Before Ruby's death in January 2006, she and Brock had been working on assembling some of her songs into a collection. The songs were compiled into 2-CD sets, Today I'll Think About the Rain and A Little Home Cooking. The latter CD set, A Little Home Cooking, came about because the residents around Bonham requested a compilation of Ruby’s instrumental work. Audra promptly assembled an album of 22 instrumental songs played by Ruby on the fiddle and guitar.