HALTOM CITY, Texas – A country singer in Texas doesn't book nightly gigs anymore. He traded it all in for a residency entertaining customers at a Texas gas station.
KTVT reported on Friday afternoons at Fuel City gas station in Haltom City, the lunch hour is filled with the sound Texas heritage was built on.
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The singing gas station cowboy is a man named Ace.
"I do like to sing,” he told KTVT. “I do like to sing country. I am not that great a singer. I just sing well enough that they don't throw tomatoes at me."
"I try to engage them to let them know that they're worth something,” he said. “You know, they're not just here to buy something to eat. They're here to refresh their spirit."
Fuel City customer Casie Greer said his music touched her heart. “I love it,” she said.
Ace is known to greet his fans, shake their hands, and even send them off with a free CD. Aside from happy faces, he doesn't look for anything in return.
"I've got a better reward in heaven than I do here," he said. “The Lord has been good to me, and all I can say is I couldn't do it without him."
He says he's played gigs all over North Texas for decades, but now in his seventies and needing the help of a wheelchair, the cowboy says his music is perfect for this stage.
"It's just fun waving at people and letting them know you are here,” he said. "It's a little thing. But a little thing is better than no thing."
Customers who walk away with one of Ace's CDs might be surprised at some of what they hear.
It contains some of the gospel music he also sings, but doesn't usually perform live.