Forgotten R & B Artist: Buddy Ace--The Silver Fox of the Blues

    Jimmy Land was born in Jasper Texas in 1936. Like many who sang R&B, he first cut his musical teeth in gospel with several different groups, including one with Joe Tex. During the early 50's his focus began to shift, and soon was touring with Bobby Bland and Junior Parker's band. He signed a deal with Duke records in 1955 and began a long string of great, but largely forgotten songs. During this time he also became, Buddy Ace, named after the just deceased singer Johnny Ace. For a great article concerning this you can click here: http://www.houstonpress.com/1995-01-12/music/buddy-ace-moves-on/.

    Buddy never had the hits, but he left behind a group of strong singles, and was always a large draw on the concert circuit in Texas, Oklahoma and then later in California He died of a heart attack singing on stage 40 years to the day after his namesake.The first clip was from a live performance in Germany in the early 90's...as you could see his voice was as strong as ever. You can hear songs like this one and many other oldies, popular and obscure, just by clicking on the link at the right. A player will open up in another tab and you can hear the best songs on the planet.