Leon McAuliffe & His Cimarron Boys – Take Off & More
After World War II, Leon McAuliffe, steel guitarist-vocalist for Bob Willss Texas Playboys from 1935-43, formed a tight western outfit, later dubbed the Cimarron Boys, and led it for well over two decades, hitting their musical peak at Columbia from 1949-1955. As Western Swings popularity flatlined, McAuliffe still featured high-octane sidemen including fiddlers Keith Coleman, Cecil Brower and reedman Rudy Martin who complimented his outstanding steel and vocals. While annotator Kevin Coffey expertly chronicles how the band arrived at Dot Records in 1957-58, the music is another matter. This 26-song blend of McAuliffe originals, Wills favorites and big band standards, while smooth and tight, is also distressingly bereft of any real excitement. The studio slickness yields results so utterly cut and dried that one wonders why Bear Family focused on the Dot era at all. If theres any consolation, its that they have a single disc Columbia McAuliffe in the planning stages.