Black Ace Turner (a.k.a. B. K. Turner) ….. was born Babe Kyro Lemon Turner on December 21, 1905, in Hughes Springs, Texas. He was the son of Thomas and Mattie Turner. B. K. was raised on the family farm. His early interest in music began at his church and soon led him to build his own guitar and teach himself how to play. In the late 1920s he played locally and grew in popularity. During the early 1930s he toured East Texas dance halls and juke joints with teenager Andrew Smokey Hogg and Oscar Buddy Woods, a Hawaiian-style guitarist. (A Hawaiian-style guitarist plays with the instrument flat on his lap.) Influenced by Woods, Turner bought a National Style 2 squareneck tricone steel guitar. With the guitar on his lap and fretting with a glass medicine bottle, he played what one music critic called Hawaii meets the Delta, smooth and simple blues. In 1936 Turner recorded six songs with Smokey Hogg and pianistWhistling Alex Moore for Decca Records in Chicago. Included in these six songs was his signature song, this one: “BLACK ACE”( very cool video of Black Ace and his wife and boy): https://youtube/watch?v=YW7zxl3sdJc Also beginning in 1936, Turner had a radio show on KFJZ–in Fort Worth playing blues and R&B. During his last year on the radio, Turner appeared in the 1941 film The Blood of Jesus, an African-American movie produced by Spencer Williams. In 1943 he was drafted into the United States Army. He did not return to music until 1960, when Arhoolie Records owner Chris Strachwitz approached him in Fort Worth and asked to him to record for his label. Turner found his guitar in the attic, without strings and although he hadn’t played since the early 1940s, he recorded seventeen new tracks for Strachwitz. His performance in a 1962 documentary, The Blues, was his last public music appearance. He died of cancer in Fort Worth on November 7, 1972. He was buried in Steen Cemetery in Malakoff, Texas . An Arhoolie Records CD titled I am the Boss Card in Your Hand features both Turners original 1930s recordings and his 1960 session and represents the only anthology of his work. As a child, Babe Kyro LemonTurner developed an interest in music by attending church. He built his own guitar and taught himself how to play it. After hearing the Hawaiian-style guitar sounds of his friend Oscar “Buddy” Woods, he bought his own laptop steel and produced a sound of his own, described as “Hawaii meets the Delta”. And for that, Babe Kyro Lemon Turner was a Pioneer of Texas Music Pioneers of Texas Music can be heard twice daily, Monday through Saturday on Sun Radio. Please visit sunradio for specific times. Pioneers of Texas Music is made possible in part by Scholz Garten, the oldest business in Texas, since 1866. And history is still being made at Scholz Garten where you can enjoy delicious, authentic German food as well as excellent American food while sampling any of 52 different ICE COLD DRAFT BEERS and listening to LIVE MUSIC in their spacious Bier Garten. For a calendar of LIVE MUSIC and their MENU, visit scholzgarten.net. Pioneers of Texas Music is also brought to you by SOUTH AUSTIN BREWING COMPANY. Pioneers of Texas Music is also brought to you in part by Hut’s. Located at 807 West 6th Street. Now serving Buffalo and Grassfed Longhorn Burgers. An Austin Tradition Since 1939. Menu at hutsfrankandangies. Thanks to Denver O’Neal and Ben Bethea for assisting in the recording and editing of Pioneers of Texas Music. If you or someone you know might be interested in sponsoring Pioneers of Texas Music, please contact Daryl O’Neal at [email protected]. Pioneers of Texas Music is written, spoken and produced by David Arnsberger from an idea by Larry Monroe. Some of the reference ma
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 14:32:22 +0000