Clifton Lafayette Bruner, known professionally as Cliff Bruner, was a fiddler and bandleader of the Western Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. Bruner's music combined elements of traditional string band music, improvisation, blues, folk, and popular melodies of the times.
Biography
Bruner was born in Texas City, Texas, and spent most of his childhood near Houston. He learned to play fiddle, and traveled with medicine shows to begin his musical career. Milton Brown'sMusical Brownies drafted Bruner in 1935. Bruner played with the ensemble's classically trained fiddler Cecil Brower to create the memorable double fiddle sound of Milton Brown's group. Bruner recorded with Brown's group on the Deccamusic label, until Brown was killed in an automobile accident in 1936. This ended Bruner's involvement in the group. That same year, Bruner moved to Houston and formed The Texas Wanderers, a band that included Lee Bell :de:Lee Bell| on electric guitar, Bob Dunn on electric steel guitar, Leo Raley on mandolin, J. R. Chatwell on fiddle, Dickie McBride on guitar and vocals, and Moon Mullican on vocals and piano. The Wanderers recorded on the Decca and Mercury Records labels. His songs had a special southern characteristic including songs about truck driving, lost love, the draft, and ill repute. Cliff Bruner is an unsung star of the little-noted Country music charts that appeared in Billboard prior to 1944. His hit "It Makes No Difference Now" spent twenty weeks atop the chart. Other hits in 1939–1942 included "Sorry," "Kelly Swing", "I'll Keep On Loving You", and "When You're Smiling". Perhaps his most famous hit was "Truck Drivers' Blues," the first truck driving song. Many of these recordings featured future singer piano star, Moon Mullican, on vocals. Bruner's big band disbanded in the 1950s, however, he continued to play music, and his trio appeared in the 1984 Sally Field movie Places in the Heart.
Death
Bruner died of cancer on August 25, 2000, aged 85.
