"Half as Much" is an American pop standard written by Curley Williams in 1951. It was first recorded by country music singer Hank Williams in 1952 and reached #2 on the Billboard Country Singles chart. The same year, Rosemary Clooney recorded a hit version for Top 40 markets and Alma Cogan in the United Kingdom. Since then the song has been recorded by a number of artists including Patsy Cline (1962), Ray Charles (1962), Eddy Arnold (1964), Sharon Redd (1967), Petula Clark (1974), Emmylou Harris (1992), Cake (1998), and Van Morrison (2006).

Hank Williams version

According to the 2004 book Hank Williams: The Biography, Williams was not too enamoured with "Half as Much" and only recorded it at producer Fred Rose's insistence. Williams recorded it at a session at Castle Studio in Nashville on August 10, 1951. He was backed by Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), Sammy Pruett (lead guitar), Howard Watts (bass), probably Jack Shook (rhythm guitar), and either Owen Bradley or Fred Rose on piano. "Half as Much" is notable for being the only Hank Williams recording to feature a solo barroom piano at its conclusion. Two months after Williams recorded "Half as Much," Curly Williams recorded it for Columbia Records, so Rose held back Hank's release until March 28, 1952 to clear the way for Curley's release on November 2, 1951.

An ace is a playing card.

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The Aces, originally known as The Four Aces, were a Jamaican vocal group who are best known for their work with Desmond Dekker.

History

The initial line-up of The Aces consisted of Clive Campbell, Barry Howard, Carl Howard, and Patrick Howard. The group came to the attention of Dekker, who supported them when they auditioned for Leslie Kong at Beverley's studio in 1965. Kong employed the group as backing singers for Dekker and they can be heard on the song "Get Up Adinah" (credited as The Four Aces). They provided the backing vocals on Dekker's major hit "007 (Shanty Town)" as well as the track "Music Like Dirt (Intensified '68)" (the winning song of the 1968 Jamaica Independence Festival Song Contest). By 1967 the only remaining original members were Barry Howard and Winston Samuels and it is their backing vocals featured on "Israelites". Dekker's international success led to him touring overseas though The Aces did not accompany him due to Samuels refusal to fly (Samuels stating that "Rastas did not fly on iron birds") and Barry Howard's decision to emigrate to the United States. The Aces continued to record under their own name (without Dekker) and had a Jamaican hit in 1970 with "Mademoiselle Ninette". By 1971 the line-up had changed again, with Barry Howard now rejoined by Carl Hall. A string of hits followed with "Reggae Motion", "Take a Look", "Oh I Miss You", "Call Me Number One", "Be My Baby", and "Sad Sad Song". The song "Working on it Night and Day", though not a hit, did enter the pop charts in 1973. Little more was heard from the group until 1982 when they released "One Way Street".

The Aces was one of the earliest and most influential of the electric Chicago blues bands in the 1950s. Led by the guitarist brothers Louis and Dave Myers, natives of Byhalia, Mississippi, the brothers originally performed under the name The Little Boys; with the subsequent addition of harmonica player Junior Wells, they rechristened themselves the Three Deuces, followed by the Three Aces. The 1950 enlistment of drummer Fred Below prompted another name change, this time to the Four Aces; finally, to simplify matters once and for all, the group performed as just The Aces. Influenced in large part by jazz, they developed an urbane, sophisticated style well ahead of its time; in particular, Below's refined rhythms led to the rise of the blues shuffle beat, and helped launch the drums to a new prominence within the blues band hierarchy.

In 1952, Wells quit to join the Muddy Waters band, filling the vacancy created by the recent departure of Little Walter from Muddy's band; Walter himself quickly signed the remaining Aces as his new backing unit, renaming the trio The Jukes to capitalize on his current hit single, "Juke". A series of seminal recordings followed - "Mean Old World," "Sad Hours," "Off the Wall," and "Tell Me Mama" among them - before Louis' 1954 exit resulted in the Jukes' gradual dissolution as Little Walter's band, but freeing up the members to reform as a backing band for other Chicago blues musicians such as Otis Rush, Eddie Boyd, and others.