From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Thu Apr 25, 2002 1:16 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Cliff Bruner CLIFF BRUNER (By Shaun Mather) Born 25 April 1915, Houston, Texas Died 25 August 2000, Houston, Texas Western swing fiddler Cliff Bruner is notorious for recording the first trucking song, 1939's, Truck Driver's Blues. A professional musician by his early teens, he toured as part of Dr Scott's Medicine Show before joining one of the legendary bands in western swing history, Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies in 1934. The band was tragically terminated two years later when Brown was killed in a car crash. Bruner returned to Houston where he formed the Texas Wanderers, whose members included Moon Mullican and Bob Dunn. Their biggest hit came in 1938 with Floyd Tillman's It Makes No Difference. The financial and personal demands of keeping a full western swing ensemble together took its toll on many bands with Bruner being no different. He quit music in the early '50s but returned two decades later, playing until his death from cancer, aged 85. Recommended listening: Cliff Bruner & His Texas Wanderers - Bear Family (5 CDs)