The music of Leonard Slye or, better known as Roy Rogers, began in the early 1930s with a guitar purchase from a pawnshop. Roy Rogers’ guitar was a Martin guitar; model OM-45 Deluxe. Roy Rogers’ thirty-dollar guitar played songs in the band The Sons of the Pioneers. Some of their famous songs were Tumbling Tumbleweed and Cool Water.
Roy Rogers was on the radio for years, and then effortlessly made the transition to television in the 1950s. He and his wife (Dale Evans) were very popular, along with his horse, Trigger, and his trusty dog, Bullet.
The guitar that Roy Rogers played throughout his musical career later sold in 2009. The back of the guitar, worn from where the belt buckle would have rubbed it, but even that did not bother collectors, the auction ended at a whopping $460,000. The Roy Rogers television show made every American family fall in love with his family and with Roy Rogers’ guitar.
roy rogers guitar, 2