Leon Selph

Aliases: Blue Ridge Playboys
Leon Selph and His Blue Ridge Playboys
Leon Selph's Blue Ridge Playboys
Real name: Spencer Leigh Leon Selph
Born: April 7, 1914
Died: January 8, 1999
Country: United States
Comments: Selph was taught violin beginning at age seven and was a member of the Houston Youth Symphony at age 14. At age 17, he was hired by W. Lee O'Daniel to play fiddle with the Light Crust Doughboys, although a major duty was teaching the other band members a new song every week for the Doughboys' radio show as most of the band musicians could not read music. In this capacity, Bob Wills was one of his students. Selph later joined Wills as one of the Texas Playboys before starting his own group, The Blue Ridge Playboys. From the mid-1930s until the outbreak of World War II, The Blue Ridge Playboys had a radio program on KPRC in Houston.

After World War II, Selph began a long career with the Houston Fire Department, although he continued to run a band. When he retired from the fire department in 1972, he toured the Soviet Union and Europe as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of honky-tonk music and was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1996.
Member of: The Light Crust Doughboys