Babe Karo
(ss. Kyro) Lemon Turner was born close to the State line between Texas and
Louisiana at Hughes Springs, Texas, in 1905. The son of a share-cropper, he
taught himself to play guitar and began playing parties and fish fries in
the vicinity of his hometown, sometimes in the company of Smokey Hogg. Sometime in the early 1930's he
moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, and met up with Oscar 'Buddy' Woods (aka The
Lone Wolf) who taught Turner to play a steel-bodied Hawaiian-style guitar.
The two paired up for a while and played the local Shreveport jukes and
party circuit until Turner relocated to Fort Worth, Texas. By now Turner was
calling himself The Black Ace and he found himself a regular slot on the
local KFJZ radio station. In 1937 he recorded six sides for the Decca
label and for the next few years enjoyed local success in the Fort Worth
area. An army draft during World War Two interrupted his career and he never
was able to re-establish himself as an artist, musical tastes having moved
on. During the folk boom of the early 1960's he did record again, for the
Arhoolie label, and appeared in the important documentary, "The Blues".
However this did not lead to any further success and he returned to working
as a field labourer. He died at Fort Worth in 1972, aged 66.
Babe Karo
(ss. Kyro) Lemon Turner was born close to the State line between Texas and
Louisiana at Hughes Springs, Texas, in 1905. The son of a share-cropper, he
taught himself to play guitar and began playing parties and fish fries in
the vicinity of his hometown, sometimes in the company of