Noel Boggs

Noel Edwin Boggs (November 13, 1917 – August 31, 1974) was an American musician who was a virtuoso on the electric steel guitar, widely regarded as a pioneer of the lap steel. A central figure in popularizing the genre of Western swing, he helped elevate the instrument from its roots in Hawaiian music to a prominent role in American popular music. During the 1940s and 1950s, Boggs performed and recorded with many of influential artists, including Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1944–1945) and Spade Cooley's dance band. His collaboration with Wills helped establish the role of the steel guitar in country music. He performed on more than 2,000 recordings, including several of Wills’ enduring hits, such as “Roly Poly” and “Stay a Little Longer,” both of which became Western swing standards. Boggs was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. Early life

Born in Oklahoma City in 1917, Boggs began playing steel guitar in his youth, and in 1935 was performing on three local radio stations while still in high school. At that point, the electric pickup to amplify a guitar had been recently invented in 1934. Boggs began playing on a Rickenbacker lap steel, the first electrified string instrument. Just a month before his graduation from high school, he was invited to join Hank Penny's Radio Cowboys in 1937 for a tour of the Southeastern United States. He was one of the first steel players to switch between guitar necks in mid-solo He befriended guitar manufacturer Leo Fender in 1946 Boggs' instrument of choice became the Fender Stringmaster for most of his career. and performed with nearly every major artist in Western swing, including Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Bill Boyd, Tommy Duncan and Hank Penny. Boggs was featured on Penny's 1946 hit instrumental "Steel Guitar Stomp" with electric guitar played by Merle Travis. With Bob Wills, several hits featuring Boggs became standards, including "Roly Poly", "Texas Playboy Rag" and "Stay a Little Longer". The only way to get more chords and voicings was to add additional necks to the instrument, each tuned differently. known as "Boggs' Quad". The addition of multiple necks eventually stopped, with the invention of the pedal steel guitar, but Boggs refused to switch to the instrument. After leaving Spade Cooley's band in 1954, Boggs formed his own quintet, playing throughout California and Nevada as well as on tours by the United Service Organizations. By the late 1960s, diminishing health slowed Boggs' activity.

Boggs died August 31, 1974 (age 56) after suffering a stroke and heart attack.