ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Leon McAuliffe

(Jan. 3, 1917 ~ Aug. 20, 1988)

Career Highlights

Band Name:

• Leon McAuliffe & His Wesrern Swing Band
• The Cimarron Boys

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Austin City Limits, 4
• Ed Sullivan Show, 4
• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Jubilee USA, 4
• The Johnny Carson Show 

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV 

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 0
• Top-20 Singles: 2
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 6
• Chart Years Active: (1949-1964)

Awards

Career Labels:

• ColumbiaRecords (1949-1954)
• Cimarron Records (1961-1964)
• Capitol Records (1964)

Billboard Top-20 Singles

1. Panhandle Rag# -1949
2. Cozy Inn -1961

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leon McAuliffe Fender Broadcaster

Take it away Leon: The Leon McAuliffe Story

During the heyday of Western Swing music the phrase "Take it away Leon," nearly became a household phrase in the south. It was spoken by Bob Wills and referred to Leon McAuliffe, one of the best and most famous steel guitarists in the world. Though McAuliffe is most famous for his association with the Texas Playboys, he also had a respectable solo career.

Mr. McAuliffe began playing both Hawaiian and standard guitar at age fourteen. McAuliffe began appearing on a local radio station as part of the group the Waikiki Strummers in 1931. 

Leon McAuliffe, at age 16, worked with the Light Crust Doughboys, playing both rhythm guitar and steel guitar. In 1935, he joined Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, who would soon become the premier western swing band in existence.

Leon McAuliffe  stayed with Bob Wills (1935-1942) until World War II. While with Mr. Wills he helped compose San Antonio Rose (instrumental version).

During World War II, McAuliffe was a flight instructor. After the war he stayed in Tulsa, Oklahoma (OK) and founded a big band, the Cimarron Boys. After working on a Tulsa, OK radio station, he and his band recorded for Majestic and then Columbia during the 1950s. This group recorded more than 200 songs and was generally recognized as very innovative and technically proficient. One of his most famous tunes was Panhandle Rag which reached number 6 in the Billboard country/Western charts in 1949.

Mr. McAuliffe is more noted, however, for his most famous composition, Steel Guitar Rag and his playing, along with that of Houston's Bob Dunn (Light Crust Doughboys) that popularized the steel guitar in the United States. McAuliffe learned to electronically amplify his guitar from Bob Dunn, who later was a member of Milton Brown's Musical Brownies.

In the late 1950s, Mr. McAuliffe appeared on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA and other broadcasts. By the 1960s western swing had declined in popularity and many western swing bands had broken up or changed their musical format.

McAuliffe funded a music program at Rogers State College in Claremore, Oklahoma, paying for a recording studio and office on campus. McAuliffe was always giving to his students, featuring them in his concerts around northeastern Oklahoma.

In 1978 he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. A resurgence in interest in Western Swing in later years saw a reunion of Leon McAuliffe and the Texas Playboys for a time.

Mr. McAuliffe died after a long illness on August 20, 1988 in Tulsa. The studio gear was donated by Elanore, his widow, to a church McAuliffe favored.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ten Original Recordings

• Panhandle Rag

Instrumental

Columbia 20546

Recorded: Dallas, Texas. Jan. 9, 1949

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), James Hall, Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Lee C. Keith (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone, clarinet), Morris Billington (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• The Three Bears

Columbia 41626

Recorded: Dallas, Texas. Jul. 31, 1949

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), James Hall, Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Lee C. Keith (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone, clarinet), Morris Billington (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• You Left Me Crying

Columbia 40382

Recorded: Dallas, Texas. Jan. 9, 1949

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), Jimmy Hall (vocal, fiddle), Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Lee C. Keith (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone, clarinet), Morris Billington (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• Mr. Steel Guitar

Instrumental

Columbia 21319

Recorded: Jim Beck Studio, Dallas, Texas. May. 30, 1954

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), Keith Coleman (fiddle, saxaphone), Cecil Brower (fiddle), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone), Bobby Lee (trumpet), Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun (piano), Billy Dozer (rhythm guitar), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• Take It Away Leon

Columbia 41627

Recorded: Dallas, Texas. Jul. 31, 1949

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), Jimmy Hall (vocal, fiddle), Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Lee C. Keith (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone, clarinet), Morris Billington (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• T-U-L-S-A Straight Ahead

RHCO 4200

Recorded: Unknown location. Jul. 26, 1950

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar, lead vocal), Jimmy Hall (vocal, fiddle), Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Bobby Lee (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone), Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• The Steel Guitar Polka

Columbia 40381

Recorded: Dallas, Texas. Jan. 9, 1949

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), James Hall (lead vocal, fiddle), Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) vocal, fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Lee C. Keith (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone, clarinet), Morris Billington (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• I've Never Lived In Tennessee

Columbia 20807

Recorded: Castle Studio, Nashville, Tennessee. Jan. 29, 1951

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), Jimmy Hall (lead vocal), Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce) vocals, fiddles, Robert Kiser (lead guitar), Lee C. Keith (trumpet), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone, clarinet), Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun (piano), Billy Dozer (rhythm guitar), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

• Blue Man's Blues

Instrumental

Columbia 21174

Recorded: Jim Beck Studio, Dallas, Texas. Sep. 20, 1953

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar), Keith Coleman, Jimmy Hall (fiddle), Billy Dozer (lead guitar), Murel Wayne Johnson (clarinet, saxaphone), Bobby Lee (trumpet), Milton "Pee Wee" Calhoun (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

Rec3rded: Dallas, Texas. Jan. 9, 1949

• Bonaparte's Retreat

Columbia 20706Recorded: Pla-Mor Ballroom, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Apr. 26, 1950

Session Personnel: Leon McAuliffe (lead vocal, steel guitar), Cecil Brower (fiddle), Robert Berg (Bobby Bruce), Jimmy Hall (vocal, fiddles), Bob Kiser (lead guitar), Murel Wayne Johnson (saxaphone), Bobby Lee (trumpet), Morris Billington (piano), Theodore "Ted" Adams (string bass), Salomon Gamboa (drums).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music, Jan. 21, 2012.