Royal Wade Kimes (born March 3, 1951) is an American country music singer.
Kimes was the last cowboy to ride the Ark/Ok. border country, running cattle on the open range. He and his father ran a sawmill until he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1983. He also worked at Loretta Lynn's dude ranch and later began recording demos through the encouragement of Eddy Arnold. Kimes also wrote the cut "We Bury the Hatchet" on Garth Brooks' album Ropin' the Wind, and signed with Asylum Records in 1996. The label released the single "Leave My Mama Out Of This",[1] followed by his debut album Another Man's Sky.[3]
Following Leave My Mama Out Of This was the album's title track, which was made into a music video.[4] The album's third single, "Guardian Angel", received a positive review in Billboard, which called it "country to the core" and praised Kimes as a "talented songwriter".[5] After Kimes left Asylum, he began recording for Wonderment Records. Kimes charted at number 60 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated January 3, 2004 with "Mile High Honey".[2] Following the song Mile High Honey Kimes began having hits abroad on Hot Disc Top 40/1st release On The Border topped the chart at no.1 followed by Ride at no.1 His song Cut The Line top out at no 2 and more followed.