Collins, Curley

Ruel Culbertson (Curley) Collins (1915-1986) played the fiddle, guitar, and banjo in country and western bands of the 1930s-1980s. Born near Catlettsburg in eastern Kentucky, Curley Collins began playing music professionally at age 14. In 1936, he joined popular Kentucky band Pop Eckler and His Young'uns. WSB Radio in Atlanta invited Eckler's band to join its "Cross Roads Follies" broadcasts. The band performed variety shows throughout the Southeast, in which Collins, who won a national fiddling contest in 1938, played, sang, and danced. Following Army service during the Second World War, Collins partnered with singer Benny Kissinger, and they were featured on the "Old Dominion Barn Dance" show on WRVA Radio (Richmond, Va.), 1946-1957. After some years out of the music business, Collins and Kissinger reivived their act in 1979, playing to appreciative audiences until Collins' death in 1986.