Leon McAuliffe
Leon McAuliffe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date |
| Died | August 20, 1988 (aged 71) |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, musician, music educator |
| Years active | 1930s–1980s |
| Known for | Western swing guitar, member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys |
William Leon McAuliffe (January 3, 1917 – August 20, 1988) was a prominent American guitarist specializing in Western swing and a member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys throughout the 1930s. He was honored posthumously with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of this ensemble and is also recognized in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.
Biography
McAuliffe began his professional music career at age sixteen by joining the Light Crust Doughboys, where he played both rhythm and steel guitar. By 1935, when he was eighteen, he started performing alongside Bob Wills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, remaining with the band until the onset of World War II.
During his tenure with Wills, he co-wrote the song "San Antonio Rose" but gained greater acclaim for composing "Steel Guitar Rag" and for his pioneering steel guitar style. Together with Robert Lee Dunn from Milton Brown's Musical Brownies, McAuliffe played a crucial role in bringing the steel guitar to prominence within American music.
His playing approach also had a significant impact on the development of electric guitar techniques found in rhythm and blues two decades later.
Following the war, McAuliffe established the Western swing group known as the Cimarron Boys based in Tulsa. Their 1949 release "Panhandle Rag" (under Columbia) climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard country charts. He maintained an active recording career into the 1960s and took part in a Texas Playboys reunion during the 1970s.
In the 1980s, McAuliffe contributed to music education by teaching at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma, working alongside Eldon Shamblin and Junior Brown.
Singles
| Year | Single | US Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | "Panhandle Rag" | 6 |
| 1955 | "Hard-Hearted Gal" | – |
| 1961 | "Cozy Inn" | 16 |
| 1962 | "Faded Love" | 22 |
| 1964 | "Shape Up or Ship Out" | 35 |
| "I Don't Love Nobody" | 47 | |
| 1971 | "Faded Love" (with Tompall & the Glaser Brothers) | 22 |