Leon Selph

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Leon "Pappy" Selph (born April 7, 1914 in Houston ; † 1999 ibid) was an American musician ( fiddle , vocals ) and band leader of western swing .

Live and act

Selph played the violin from the age of seven and had classical violin lessons at the Columbia Conservatory in Houston. He completed his studies in 1928 and performed with the Houston Youth Symphony at the age of 14. In 1931 he became a member of W. Lee O'Daniel's Light Crust Doughboys. His main concern was to teach the Doughboys musicians who could not read music; one of his students was Bob Wills . During this time Selph was given the opportunity to teach musicians who played in the Grand Ole Opry , and therefore moved frequently from Fort Worth and Nashville ; he also appeared in the Opry ("Orange Blossom Special").

In Waco , he joined Bob Wills when he founded the Texas Playboys ; when Wills moved to Tulsa with the band in 1934, he returned to Houston and formed his own band, the Blue Ridge Playboys . In this group u. a. Floyd Tillman , Moon Mullican , Ted Daffan , Bob Dunn and Cliff Bruner . He received a record deal with Columbia Records in the mid-1930s and enjoyed regional success with titles such as "Give Me My Dime Back" (composed by Selph himself), "Florine" (1941, with Gus Plant and Freddie Courtney ) and the classic " Orange Blossom Special ”. In the years that followed, up to World War II, the Blue Ridge Playboys had their own national radio show on the KPRC in Houston.

Selph served in the US Navy as a firefighter during World War II; after the war he returned to Houston and worked in the Houston Fire Department for the next thirty years, from 1955 onwards with the rank of captain. After his retirement in 1972 he founded a band with which he worked in the Soviet Union and as a cultural ambassador for the American State Department . The city of Houston declared June 9, 1991 Leon Pappy Selph Appreciation Day in his honor ; In 1996 he was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame .

Discographic notes

  • Stompin 'at the Honky Tonk: Western Swing In Houston 1936-1941 (Compilation, String Records, ed. 1971)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Handbook of Texas
personal data
SURNAME Selph, Leon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Selph, Pappy (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American western swing musician
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston
DATE OF DEATH 1999
Place of death Houston