Janice Brooks
From:
Pleasant Gap Pa
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Posted 26 Aug 2000 6:00 am |
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Fiddle player Cliff Bruner dies of cancer
Houston fiddle player Cliff Bruner, a pioneer in Western swing and one of
the most influential musicians in the history of Texas country music, died
Friday of cancer at his home. He was 85.
Bruner played fiddle for more than 70 years. He was fiddler for Milton
Brown's Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing band, which predated
even Bob Wills' Texas Playboys.
Local steel guitar and fiddle player Bill Dessens described Bruner as
"legendary."
"When he was about 12 years old, he decided he didn't want to pick cotton
anymore. So he bought himself a fiddle," Dessens said.
"He was Johnny Gimble's biggest influence. He was such an influence on every
fiddle player in the country."
"Cliff is the guy who pioneered Texas swing fiddle," Gimble told the
Chronicle in 1997. "He gave me goose bumps." Gimble has played fiddle for
Willie Nelson and many others.
Bruner liked to say he didn't learn his style from anyone.
"I just like to improvise," he said, "take a tune and put a little something
extra in it instead of playing it note for note."
Born in Texas City, Bruner grew up in the woods near Tomball. As a teen-ager
he traveled around the country trying to start a band. He was asked to join
the Musical Brownies in 1935, at age 20.
Two years later, in Houston, Bruner formed the Texas Wanderers.
The group also featured steel guitarist Bob Dunn, mandolin player Leo Raley,
guitarist and singer Dickie McBride, pianist and singer Moon Mullican and
bass player Hezzy Bryant.
The Wanderers became a top-performing attraction here. They later shifted to
Beaumont, playing live three times daily on radio.
The Wanderers scored a national hit with Floyd Tillman's It Makes No
Difference Now.
Several years ago their material from 1937 to 1950 was collected for a
five-CD set, Cliff Bruner and His Texas Wanderers, which is still available.
Bruner could not pursue stardom due to the illness of his first wife, Ruth.
He went into the insurance business, and the two were in Amarillo when she
died at 34.
He returned to Houston and got married again, to a woman also named Ruth,
working in business while playing music on the side.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday at Canon Funeral Home in Waller.
Burial will be at Decker Prairie Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-9 p.m.
Sunday at the funeral home.
Bruner is survived by his wife, Ruth; six daughters, Norma Sue Wiley, Carol
Lynn Woods, Madelyn Gresham, Peggy Gordan Rutledge, Arlene Brewer and Paula
Boney Morris; 17 grandchildren; 16 great grandchildren; and five
great-great-grandchildren.
He had the friendliest smile of anyone in the world.
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This is what I found in the newsgroup. it does not mention specific tracks he played on
including the first truckers song "Truck Driver's Blues"
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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047 |
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Steve England
From:
Austin, TX
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Posted 29 Aug 2000 8:02 am
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| I was lucky enough to catch what was probably Cliff's last gig out in LA Grange Texas a couple of months ago. He had just got out of the hospital and wasn't in the best of health. He was a real sweeet guy, and one of Texas Swing's true originals, and will be sorely missed. |
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