George Strait wouldn’t sound the same without his longtime backing band, Ace in the Hole Band. While many may think that Strait hired the band, it was actually the other way around. Strait originally started off as the band’s lead singer before he embarked on a solo career in country music, bringing the band along with him for the ride.
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Meaning Behind the Band Name
It all started in Strait’s native Texas in the town of San Marcos in the 1970s. This proved to be a central location for the original band members – lead singer Jay Dominguez, lead guitarist Ron Cabal, steel guitarist Mike Daily, bassist Terry Hale and drummer Tommy Foote – as they all met as students at what’s now called Texas State University. After Dominguez and Foote left the band after graduating in 1975, the band resorted to finding new members by posting an ad around campus. Strait, who was an agricultural science major at the time, responded to the ad and was hired after his audition as their new lead singer.
The band was originally named Stoney Ridge, but Strait changed the name to Ace in the Hole Band. They made their debut with the new iteration at Kent Finlay’s Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos in October 1975 where they became a regular act, according to Texas State University’s archive, Texas Music History Online.
Strait started taking singing seriously while he was serving in the Army from 1971 to 1975. “I was in the service and for some reason, I got it in me that I could sing,” he explained in an early career interview with KXIX-TV in Victoria, Texas. “I thought that I could possibly make a career out of singing. I was in the Army at the time, I was stationed in Hawaii. I went and bought a guitar, I started learning songs and learned enough where I could get a band together and did that. The last year I was in the service, that’s what I did for the Army was sing country music.”
After Strait signed his first record deal in 1981, he quickly became one of the genre’s biggest acts when he scored five consecutive No. 1 hits: “A Fire I Can’t Put Out,” “You Look So Good in Love,” “Right or Wrong,” “Let’s Fall to Pieces Together” and “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind.” This led to lineup changes in the group as they became his backing band on tour, including Foote becoming the singer’s road manager. Foote was replaced on drums by Roger Montgomery. Piano player Rondal Huckaby also joined, along with Rick McRae replacing Cabal on lead guitar and fellow guitarist Benny McArthur, and Gene Elders on fiddle.
In 1989, Strait released “Ace in the Hole,” which became his 18th No. 1 single. The band suffered a tragic loss with the death of Mike Kennedy, who was the drummer from 1991 until he died in a car accident in 2018. Cabal was also tragically killed in a hit-and-run accident in Austin, Texas, in 1996.
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ATLive
