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Amazing Rhythm Aces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazing Rhythm Aces is an American country rock group.
The Aces came together in Memphis 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, dobro player Barry Burton, 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.
Burton left the group after the release of 1977's Toucan Do It Too, and was replaced by Duncan Cameron.
The Aces played on PBS's Austin City Limits in 1977. At the time, McDade characterized their music as "American Music" — rock, country, blues, folk, reggae and Latino.
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.
Smith became a successful songwriter, Earhart joined Hank Williams, Jr.'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. James Hooker joined Nanci Griffith in 1987, and remains the leader of the band The Blue Moon Orchestra[1]
The Aces reformed in 1994. The group, comprised 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-related death on November 29, 1998 slowed the release, Chock Full of Country Goodness appeared in mid-1999.
- Stacked Deck (1975)
- Too Stuffed to Jump (1976)
- Toucan Do It Too (1977)
- Burning the Ballroom Down (1978)
- The Amazing Rhythm Aces (1979)
- How the Hell Do You Spell Rhythum? (1980)
- Full House: Aces High (1981)
- 4 You 4 Ever: Best of Amazing Rhythm Aces (1982)
- Out of the Blue (1997)
- Ride Again (1997)
- Chock Full of Country Goodness (1999)
- Concert Classics, Volume 3 [live] (1999)
- Absolutely Live (2000)
- Stacked Deck/Too Stuffed to Jump (2000)
- Toucan Do It Too/Burning the Ballroom Down (2000)
- Between You and Us (2001)
- Nothin' but the Blues (2004)