The Miller Brothers Orchestra

Western Swing Band Members: Fiddle: Leon Gibbs Trumpet: Lee Cochran Saxophone: Bill Heath, Clyde Smith, Forest Fulcher Piano: Pauline Fulcher Guitar: Sam Gibbs Bass: Nat Gibbs Drums: Bob Steed The Miller Brother Orchestra were one of the top western swing bands of the 1950's, well-traveled and extensively recorded, but they were still essentially a local group when they first recorded in 1947, although they dominated the scene in the north Texas city of Wichita Falls. Formed at the end of the 1930's by the Gibbs brothers, Leon and twins Sam and Nat, who adopted the pseudonym Miller so as not to conflict with their day jobs. The Millers Brothers were broadcasting on Wichita Falls, Texas radio station KWFT by 1941. All three brothers served in World War II and, although drummer Jake Miller (J.E. Gose) held the band together through most of the war, the Gibbs brothers reformed from scratch after returning home, forming a partnership with trumpeter Lee Cochran, who had been a member of Wichita Falls' premiere pre-war group, Billy's Melody Five. By 1947, the Miller Brothers Orchestra, fronted by fiddler Leon Gibbs, was a large versatile dance band with as many as four horn players and their first sessions with Delta that year found them alternately recording Texas pure Honky-Tonk and big band swing. Delta's history is brief but nevertheless difficult to unravel. The first releases have a Dallas address and may have been produced by Elary Kearn, a man who was also involved with L.A. label Globe's 1946 Texas recordings by Hank Thompson and others, and who was from the 1950's through the 1970's the right-hand man to Bill McCall at Four-Star. The second batch of recordings carry a Wichita Falls address and a different label design, but also carry a "BB" prefix that seems strongly to indicate a connection with Herb Rippa's Blue Bonnet label, though Leon Gibbs says these recordings were financed by local Wichita Falls businessmen, including Les Fulcher, the brother of Miller band members Forrest and Pauline Fulcher. The Miller's streamlined their sound by the early 1950's, dropping the saxophones and keeping only Lee Cochran's trumpet. They also swapped natty sports coats, ties and slacks for western garb and began touring widely on their own and as backing for singers like Tommy Duncan and T. Texas Tyler. They recorded with Duncan in 1953, then signed with Four-Star, with whom they remained to the end of the decade (they are one of the few acts whose relationship with Four-Star seems to have been a satisfying one), recording both western swing and more commercial country and pop fare. Nat Gibbs left the band in 1951, then Sam Gibbs left in 1953 to form a booking agency that eventually booked not only the Millers, but also Bob and Johnnie Lee Wills, among others. Leon Gibbs and Lee Cochran left the group in the late 1950's, as well, each working for a time in the booking agency. The Millers Brothers band was turned over to fiddler Bobby Rhodes, who kept a group going into the early 1960's. Sam Gibbs later opened a Wichita Falls music store, where Leon Gibbs taught fiddle. Leon also appeared as a musician in the films The Last Picture Show and Texasville. Lee Cochran died in 1968, His son Danny is a respected Texas blues drummer, and a long time member of one of the premiere Texas blues bands, Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets.