About The Song
“Ruby (Are You Mad)” is Buck Owens’ 1971 country single based on the older song “Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?”, a piece first associated with old-time and bluegrass music. Owens cut his version with the Buckaroos for Capitol Records and issued it as a 7-inch single in 1971, backed with “Heartbreak Mountain.” The track runs a little over two minutes and appeared at a time when Owens was experimenting with more acoustic, bluegrass-flavoured material alongside his established Bakersfield sound.
The song has a longer history that stretches back to the 1940s. “Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?” is generally credited to Cousin Emmy (Cynthia May Carver), a pioneering Kentucky-born old-time musician. Archival surveys and folk-music notes list her as the songwriter and identify a 1946 recording by Cousin Emmy and Her Kinfolk as the first release. In the 1950s the Osborne Brothers recorded “Ruby Are You Mad” for MGM Records, and their 1956 bluegrass version helped turn it into a standard that would later be revisited by many country and bluegrass performers.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Owens was looking for ways to fold bluegrass material into his catalogue. He began work on a full bluegrass-oriented LP, eventually released by Capitol in June 1971 as Buck Owens’ Ruby & Other Bluegrass Specials. Track listings for that album show a set built around songs such as “Corn Liquor,” “Uncle Pen,” “Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “I Know You’re Married but I Love You Still,” “Ole Slew Foot,” “Rocky Top/Ruby (Are You Mad),” “Ashes of Love” and “Heartbreak Mountain.” Within that context, “Ruby (Are You Mad)” functions as both a focal track and the source of the album’s title.
Session documentation compiled in later discographies and databases indicates that Owens recorded “Ruby (Are You Mad)” with his Buckaroos on February 27, 1971, with Ken Nelson and Owens listed as co-producers. The personnel included Don Rich on guitar, Ron Jackson on banjo, Jerry Wiggins on drums, Doyle Curtsinger on bass and Jim Shaw on piano, with Owens himself handling lead vocal and guitar. Those same sources describe the project as being cut at Buck Owens’ own studio in Bakersfield, giving him more control over the sound than in his earlier Hollywood-based sessions.
Musically, Owens stays close to the bluegrass roots of the song while retaining elements of his Bakersfield approach. The arrangement features banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, upright-sounding bass and a driving, two-beat rhythm, with the Buckaroos’ harmonies reinforcing the call-and-response feel of the chorus. Compared with the Osborne Brothers’ high, tenor-led version, Owens’ recording is lower and more grounded, shaped to fit his baritone voice and to work within a country-single format, but it still carries the quick tempo and string-band energy associated with bluegrass.
The lyric itself – preserved from Cousin Emmy’s original – centres on a man asking Ruby why she is angry with him. Verses describe him “diggin’ in the ground’s cold mine” and doing all he can to get along, yet still finding her unsatisfied. Other lines promise that if she calls on him at night, he will take her to a shady place, mixing playful imagery with the frustration of not knowing why she is upset. The repeated question “Ruby, Ruby honey, are you mad at your man?” gives the song its hook and has helped it remain memorable across different versions.
Chart references show that Owens’ 1971 single was a significant success. According to consolidated Billboard and RPM data, “Ruby (Are You Mad)” reached No. 3 on the U.S. country singles chart, No. 106 on the Billboard Hot 100 (a “bubbling under” position) and No. 3 on the Canadian country chart. It formed part of a strong early-1970s run for Owens that also included country Top 10 readings for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms.” Later box sets, such as The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971–1975, routinely include “Ruby (Are You Mad)” near the front of the sequence, underlining its role as one of the most prominent tracks from his bluegrass-themed period.
Over time, the Buck Owens version has taken its place alongside earlier old-time and bluegrass recordings of “Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?” as part of the song’s larger history. His single helped introduce the piece to listeners who knew him primarily from Bakersfield hits like “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail,” and the album Ruby & Other Bluegrass Specials continues to be described in reissue notes as a “straight-up bluegrass” project within his broader discography. In that sense, “Ruby (Are You Mad)” stands as both a successful early-1970s country hit and a link between West Coast country and older Appalachian material.
Video
Lyric
Ruby, Ruby
Honey, are you mad at your man?
I will set you in the shade
Shovel with my spade
Diggin’ in the ground gold mine
Ruby, Ruby
Honey, are you mad at your man?
I’ve done all I can do
Get along with you
Still you’re not satisfied
Ruby, Ruby
Honey, are you mad at your man?
If you don’t believe I’m right
Then follow me tonight
I’ll take you to my shady so cold
Ruby, Ruby
Honey, are you mad at your man?
Ruby, Ruby
Honey, are you mad at your man?