“Ruby Are You Mad” is a song written by Cousin Emmy, a colorful old-time entertainer and banjo player, who first recorded it with her band in 1946.
The song became a bluegrass standard through the Osborne Brothers. After hearing Cousin Emmy’s recording on a jukebox, the brothers recorded their own version in 1956, with Red Allen, and it became one of their best-known numbers. The Osbornes drove the song hard and crowned it with Bobby Osborne’s piercing, soaring tenor — the lyric a lover’s anxious plea to a sweetheart named Ruby, asking why she is angry with him.
That recording fixed “Ruby Are You Mad” in the bluegrass repertoire, and it later became a country hit for Buck Owens. The version heard here is the Osborne Brothers and Red Allen’s original bluegrass recording.
