Amazing Rhythm Aces
Encyclopedia
The Amazing Rhythm Aces are an American
country rock group
. The band has characterized their music as "American Music" or "Roots Music" — rock, country, blues, R&B, folk, reggae and Latino. While they are best known for their 1970s hit "Third Rate Romance", to their small but fanatical fan base they are far from "one hit wonders"; releasing 18 albums over 30 years including a 15-year hiatus. Their music is distinguished by its eclectic scope, literate and often quirky lyrics, and distinctive vocals by lead singer/songwriter Russell Smith.
in the late 1960s-early 1970s although they went by another name "Fatback". The band consisted of founding members Russell Smith
, Jeff 'Stick' Davis, and Butch McDade. They left Knoxville for greener pastures in the early seventies.
The Aces came together in Memphis, Tennessee
in 1972, first with bassist
Jeff Davis and drummer
Butch McDade, who had recorded
and toured with singer-songwriter
Jesse Winchester
. Davis and McDade recruited vocalist
/guitarist
Russell Smith, keyboardist
Billy Earhart III, lead guitar, multi-instrumentalist, Barry 'Byrd' Burton,who died in 2008 and pianist
James Hooker to develop a sound mixing pop
, country and blue-eyed soul
.
Stacked Deck, their debut album
released in 1975, resulted in two crossover
(rock and country) hits, "Third Rate Romance
" and "Amazing Grace (Used to Be Her Favorite Song)," the group's lone Top 10 country single
. In 1976 "The End Is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Tune)," from the album Too Stuffed to Jump
, won a Grammy for Country Vocal Performance by a Group. "Third Rate Romance" reached #1 on the Canadian pop/rock charts.
Burton left the group after the release of 1977's Toucan Do It Too
, and was replaced by Duncan Cameron.
In 1978, the Aces released Burning the Ballroom Down
, followed the next year by a self-titled effort featuring songs with Joan Baez
, Tracy Nelson
and the Muscle Shoals Horns. Both albums received critical approval, but sold poorly. They released another album, How the Hell Do You Spell Rhythum, before disbanding.
's Bama Band
, and Cameron joined Sawyer Brown
, a group that found significant chart success in the 1980s with a sound similar to Amazing Rhythm Aces. Hooker joined Nanci Griffith
in 1987, there he became the leader of the band The Blue Moon Orchestra. In 2007, James retired from the road and now lives in County Tipperary, Ireland and Mallorca, Spain, where he still continues a very active writing and recording schedule. James Hooker Today A year after the release of Out of the Blue, Butch McDade died after a long battle with cancer on November 29, 1998. Barry 'Byrd' Burton went on to become a successful producer and legendary session guitarist. He released a solo instrumental country effort in 2002, titled Byrd Braynz (ADF Records). Barry 'Byrd' Burton died on March 10, 2008 from complications of Myelodysplastic syndrome
(a rare form of blood cancer).
They began composing songs for a comeback album. Although McDade's cancer
-related death on 29 November 1998 slowed the release, Chock Full of Country Goodness appeared in mid-1998 with Michael Organ (drummer)
as a temporary replacement. Jeff 'Stick' Davis left the group in 2004 shortly after the release of "Nothin' But The Blues". Since 2007, the Ace's line-up included original members Russell Smith and Billy Earheart, along with Kelvin Holly on lead guitar, Mark Horn on drums and Lorne Rall on bass. The boogie/blues inspired "Nothin' but the Blues" was followed with 2007's "Midnight Communion" which hearkened back to the Aces eclectic roots music origins.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country rock group
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
. The band has characterized their music as "American Music" or "Roots Music" — rock, country, blues, R&B, folk, reggae and Latino. While they are best known for their 1970s hit "Third Rate Romance", to their small but fanatical fan base they are far from "one hit wonders"; releasing 18 albums over 30 years including a 15-year hiatus. Their music is distinguished by its eclectic scope, literate and often quirky lyrics, and distinctive vocals by lead singer/songwriter Russell Smith.
History
The Aces were first a local band in Knoxville, TennesseeKnoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
in the late 1960s-early 1970s although they went by another name "Fatback". The band consisted of founding members Russell Smith
Russell Smith (singer)
Russell Smith is an American country music singer-songwriter. Formerly the lead singer of the Amazing Rhythm Aces, Smith launched a solo country music career in 1984. He was signed by Epic Records in 1988, who released his debut album, This Little Town, the following year...
, Jeff 'Stick' Davis, and Butch McDade. They left Knoxville for greener pastures in the early seventies.
The Aces came together in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
in 1972, first with bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Jeff Davis and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Butch McDade, who had recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
and toured with singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Jesse Winchester
Jesse Winchester
Jesse Winchester is a musician and songwriter who was born and raised in the southern United States. To avoid the Vietnam War draft he moved to Canada in 1967, which is where and when he began his career as a solo artist. His highest charting recordings were of his own tunes, "Yankee Lady" in 1970...
. Davis and McDade recruited vocalist
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
/guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Russell Smith, keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Billy Earhart III, lead guitar, multi-instrumentalist, Barry 'Byrd' Burton,who died in 2008 and pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
James Hooker to develop a sound mixing pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, country and blue-eyed soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
.
Stacked Deck, their debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
released in 1975, resulted in two crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
(rock and country) hits, "Third Rate Romance
Third Rate Romance
"Third Rate Romance" is the title of a song recorded by the American country rock band Amazing Rhythm Aces on its 1975 album Stacked Deck. It was the band's debut single, reaching #11 on the U.S...
" and "Amazing Grace (Used to Be Her Favorite Song)," the group's lone Top 10 country single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. In 1976 "The End Is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Tune)," from the album Too Stuffed to Jump
Too Stuffed to Jump
Too Stuffed to Jump is the second album by American country rock group the Amazing Rhythm Aces, released in 1976 on the ABC label. Most of the material was composed by the group's lead singer Russell Smith....
, won a Grammy for Country Vocal Performance by a Group. "Third Rate Romance" reached #1 on the Canadian pop/rock charts.
Burton left the group after the release of 1977's Toucan Do It Too
Toucan Do It Too
Toucan Do It Too is the third album by American country rock group the Amazing Rhythm Aces, released in 1977 on the ABC label. It reached #24 on the US country chart and #114 on the Billboard albums chart....
, and was replaced by Duncan Cameron.
In 1978, the Aces released Burning the Ballroom Down
Burning the Ballroom Down
Burning the Ballroom Down is the fourth album by American country rock group the Amazing Rhythm Aces, released in 1978 on the ABC label. It reached #28 on the US country chart and #166 on the Billboard albums chart...
, followed the next year by a self-titled effort featuring songs with Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, Tracy Nelson
Tracy Nelson (singer)
-Youth in Wisconsin:Nelson was born and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. There she first learned about R&B music from WLAC radio in Nashville. In her teens, Nelson sang folk music in coffeehouses and with a group called The Fuller's Wood Singers and was lead singer in a band called The Fabulous...
and the Muscle Shoals Horns. Both albums received critical approval, but sold poorly. They released another album, How the Hell Do You Spell Rhythum, before disbanding.
Afterlife
Smith became a successful songwriter, Earhart joined Hank Williams, Jr.Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...
's Bama Band
The Bama Band
The Bama Band is an American country music group composed of Lamar Morris , Wayne "Animal" Turner , Clifford E. "Cowboy" Eddie Long , Jerry McKinney , Vernon Derrick , Ray Barrickman , Billy Earheart and William Claude Marshall...
, and Cameron joined Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band: Bobby Randall and Jim Scholten , both from Midland, Michigan; Joe Smyth , Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard , and Mark Miller...
, a group that found significant chart success in the 1980s with a sound similar to Amazing Rhythm Aces. Hooker joined Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
in 1987, there he became the leader of the band The Blue Moon Orchestra. In 2007, James retired from the road and now lives in County Tipperary, Ireland and Mallorca, Spain, where he still continues a very active writing and recording schedule. James Hooker Today A year after the release of Out of the Blue, Butch McDade died after a long battle with cancer on November 29, 1998. Barry 'Byrd' Burton went on to become a successful producer and legendary session guitarist. He released a solo instrumental country effort in 2002, titled Byrd Braynz (ADF Records). Barry 'Byrd' Burton died on March 10, 2008 from complications of Myelodysplastic syndrome
Myelodysplastic syndrome
The myelodysplastic syndromes are a diverse collection of hematological medical conditions that involve ineffective production of the myeloid class of blood cells....
(a rare form of blood cancer).
Reunion
The Aces reformed in 1994. The group, composed of Smith, Davis, McDade, Earhart, Hooker and new guitarist/mandolinist Danny Parks, released Ride Again, an album of new renditions of their biggest hits.They began composing songs for a comeback album. Although McDade's cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
-related death on 29 November 1998 slowed the release, Chock Full of Country Goodness appeared in mid-1998 with Michael Organ (drummer)
Michael Organ (drummer)
Michael Organ is an American rock 'n' roll drummer best known for performing and recording with Sonny Landreth and Henry Lee Summer.-Career:...
as a temporary replacement. Jeff 'Stick' Davis left the group in 2004 shortly after the release of "Nothin' But The Blues". Since 2007, the Ace's line-up included original members Russell Smith and Billy Earheart, along with Kelvin Holly on lead guitar, Mark Horn on drums and Lorne Rall on bass. The boogie/blues inspired "Nothin' but the Blues" was followed with 2007's "Midnight Communion" which hearkened back to the Aces eclectic roots music origins.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
|||
| 1975 | Stacked Deck | 12 | 120 | ABC |
| 1976 | Too Stuffed to Jump Too Stuffed to Jump Too Stuffed to Jump is the second album by American country rock group the Amazing Rhythm Aces, released in 1976 on the ABC label. Most of the material was composed by the group's lead singer Russell Smith.... |
16 | 157 | |
| 1977 | Toucan Do It Too Toucan Do It Too Toucan Do It Too is the third album by American country rock group the Amazing Rhythm Aces, released in 1977 on the ABC label. It reached #24 on the US country chart and #114 on the Billboard albums chart.... |
26 | 114 | |
| 1978 | Burning the Ballroom Down Burning the Ballroom Down Burning the Ballroom Down is the fourth album by American country rock group the Amazing Rhythm Aces, released in 1978 on the ABC label. It reached #28 on the US country chart and #166 on the Billboard albums chart... |
28 | 166 | |
| 1979 | The Amazing Rhythm Aces | 47 | 144 | |
| 1980 | How the Hell Do You Spell Rythum? | — | 175 | Warner Bros. |
| 1981 | Full House: Aces High | — | — | MSS |
| 1982 | 4 You 4 Ever: Best of Amazing Rhythm Aces | — | — | M&R |
| 1994 | Ride Again | — | — | Breaker |
| 1997 | Out of the Blue | — | — | |
| 1998 | Chock Full of Country Goodness | — | — | Valley |
| 1999 | Live in Switzerland | — | — | Store for Music |
| Concert Classics, Volume 3 | — | — | Renaissance | |
| 2000 | Absolutely Live | — | — | Icehouse |
| 2001 | Between You and Us | — | — | Pilot |
| 2004 | Nothin' but the Blues | — | — | Russell Smith |
| 2007 | Midnight Communion | — | — | |
| 2009 | Very Best of Amazing Rhythm Aces | — | — | Varese |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country | CAN | CAN AC | |||
| 1975 | "Third Rate Romance Third Rate Romance "Third Rate Romance" is the title of a song recorded by the American country rock band Amazing Rhythm Aces on its 1975 album Stacked Deck. It was the band's debut single, reaching #11 on the U.S... " |
11 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Stacked Deck |
| "Amazing Grace (Used to Be Her Favorite Song)" | 9 | 72 | 10 | 79 | — | ||
| 1976 | "The End Is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Tune)" | 12 | 42 | 20 | 69 | — | Too Stuffed to Jump |
| 1978 | "Ashes of Love" | 100 | — | — | — | — | Burning the Ballroom Down |
| 1979 | "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)" | 88 | 104 | — | — | — | The Amazing Rhythm Aces |
| 1980 | "I Musta Died and Gone to Texas" | 77 | — | — | — | — | How the Hell Do You Spell Rythum? |