Leon mcauliffe biography
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Leon McAuliffe (January 3, 1917 – August 20, 1988), born William Leon McAuliffe, was an American Western swing musician from Houston, Texas. He is famous for his steel guitar solos with Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, inspiring Wills's phrase, "Take it away, Leon."
McAuliffe, at age 16, first played with the Light Crust Doughboys, playing both rhythm guitar and steel guitar. In 1935, at age 18, he went on to play with Bob Wills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He stayed with Wills until World War II. While with Wills he helped compose "San Antonio Rose". He is more noted, however, for his most famous composition, "Steel Guitar Rag", and his playing, along with that of (Milton Brown's Musical Brownies), that popularized the steel guitar in the United States. His playing (and Dunn's) is also credited with inspiring the rhythm and blues electric guitar style occurring some twenty years later.
After the war, McAuliffe returned to Tulsa, forming his Wes
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Leon McAuliffe
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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.
William Leon McAuliffe was born in Houston, Texas on March 1, 1917. He began playing both Hawaiian and standard guitar at age 14. He began appearing on a local radio station as part of the group the Waikiki Strummers in 1931. Two years later he joined W. Lee O'Daniel's Light Crust Doughboys, with whom he recorded on ARC in Chicago. He learned to electronically amplify his guitar from Houston's Bob Dunn, a member of Milton Brown's Musical Brownies. Fiddler Jesse Ashlock invited th
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Leon McAuliffe
William Leon McAuliffe (Jan. 3, 1917 ~ Aug. 20, 1988) was a Western Swing musician and singer famous for his steel gitarr solos with Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys. McAuliffe achieved fame as a pioneering steel guitarist in the heyday of Western Swing. His now classic tune Steel gitarr Rag inspired Wills to spotlight McAuliffe by calling out, "Look out, friends - here's Leon... Take it away Leon, take it away!" McAuliffe began playing both Hawaiian and standard gitarr at age 14 and began appearing on Fort Worth's KFJZ radio hållplats as part of the group the Waikiki Strummers in 1931. Beginning at age 16, Leon played with the Light Crust Doughboys In 1933-34, playing both rhythm guitar and lap steel guitar.
In 1935, he joined Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, who would soon become the premier Western Swing band in existence. Leon stayed with Wills until 1944 when he left to serve in World War II. While with the Texas Playboys, he played a key instrumental stee