Leon's Lone Star Cowboys

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Leon's Lone Star Cowboys was an American country band that was active in Texas and Louisiana in the 1930s and combined elements of jazz and blues with western swing .

Band history

Leon's Lone Star Cowboys were founded in East Texas in 1929 under the name The Lone Star Cowboys by the Louisiana singer and guitarist Leon Chappelear (later Leon Chappel , 1909–1962) and the brothers Joe and Bob Shelton (actually Joe and Bob Attlesey) . With the support of the singer Jimmie Davis , with whom he had previously recorded for Bluebird , Leon Chappel got a record deal with Victor for the Lone Star Cowboys . A number of early western swing recordings were made , such as Deep Elm Blues and Just Because . Musical differences eventually led to the separation from the Shelton brothers, who continued their careers as The Shelton Brothers .

A new formation called Leon's Lone Star Cowboys was formed , whose music was closer to jazz , mainly through the fiddle play of Lonnie Hall and various clarinetists. Chappelear, who was heavily influenced by the blues and New Orleans jazz , created a group sound that was based on Milton Brown ’s musical Brownies. In the mid-1930s, the Lone Star Cowboys appeared on the KWKH radio station in Shreveport ; The band also got a contract with Decca until their hit streak came to an abrupt end when, on returning from a concert in September 1937, Chappelear's vehicle was in a traffic accident and suffered serious head injuries. Well-known tracks by the band were Crawdad Song , I'm a Do Right Papa , I'm Serving Days , Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name , My Little Girl , 31st Street Blues , Too Good to Be True , Travelin 'Blues and White River Blues , as well as jazz titles such as Bugle Call Rag , China Boy , Dinah and Milenburg Joys .

The band consisted of alternating line-ups in the 1930s, up to a line-up of 12 in 1937, the year in which Decca ended the recording contract with the band. Other members of the band were James "Texas Jim" Lewis (1909-1990) and his brother, the guitarist and singer Jack Rivers, (1911-1980), Leon "Pappy" Selph and Slim Harbert. In addition, instrumentalists such as the guitarist Gene Sullivan, the bassist Slim Harbert, the steel guitar player Carl Rainwater, the fiddler JR Chatwell and the banjoist Howard Oliver were added to the recordings between 1935 and 1937 .

Discographic notes

  • Western Swing Chronicles, Volume 2 - Leon Chappelear / Leon's Lone Star Cowboys (Origin Jazz Library)

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Larry Birnbaum: Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll . 2013, page 214
  2. ↑ Leon Chappel at Allmusic (English)
  3. ↑ Ron Yule, Bill Burge: Louisiana Fiddlers . 2009; s. 159
  4. ^ Western Swing Chronicles, Volume 2- Leon Chappelear / Leon's Lone Star Cowboys at Origin Jazz Library