Robert Lee Dunn (February 5, 1908 – May 27, 1971) was a pioneer

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conv ...

ist. Influenced by influential Hawaiian

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

player Sol Hoʻopiʻi, Dunn played in his own original bluesy style and was one of the first to record an electric guitar, preceding other

country & western Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ol ...

guitarists following him shortly. He preceded by over three years George Barnes (with

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

in 1938), Leonard Ware and, slightly later,

Eddie Durham Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, ...

. On January 27, 1935, Dunn became one of the first musicians to record an electrically amplified instrument as a member of

Milton Brown Milton Brown (September 8, 1903 – April 18, 1936) was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hy ...

and His Musical Brownies. Dunn also played steel guitar in numerous other Western swing groups including those of

Cliff Bruner Clifton Lafayette Bruner (April 25, 1915 – August 25, 2000) 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 ...

and one of

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with ...

's earlier bands. Dunn also had his own group, The Vagabonds, featuring Mullican and Cliff Bruner. Dunn was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1992.

References

Bibliography

*DeCurtis, Anthony. ''Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture''. Duke University Press, 1992) *Ginell, Cary. ''Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing''. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994. *Oliphant, Dave. "Texas Jazz: 1920-50". ''The Roots of Texas Music'' edited by Lawrence Clayton, Joe W. Specht, pp. 37–65. Texas A&M University Press, 2005.

External links

DUNN, ROBERT LEE (1908-1971)
mdash;Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.
Dunn, Robert Lee (Bob)
mdash;Handbook of Texas Online.
Bob Dunn recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along wit ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Bob Western swing performers Guitarists from Oklahoma 1908 births 1971 deaths People from Braggs, Oklahoma 20th-century American musicians American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians