Guitarist and harmonica player who is best known for
his collaborations with Roky Erickson and Doug Sahm.He played lead guitar and steel
guitar for The Sir Douglas Quintet, fronted by Sahm.Their big hit was "She's
About A Mover".He later
reunited with Sahm, as a member of The Texas Tornados, playing slide guitar
on their 1976 release Texas Rock For
Country Rollers.They
joined forces yet again in 1988, for Sahm's Back to the 'Dillo album, on which he played both slide
and steel guitar.While still with
The Texas Tornados, Hess found himself onstage with Roky Erickson, with
whom he would go on to record.He played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and harmonica on
Erickson's 1995 release All
That May Do My Rhyme, and 2005's I Have Always Been Here Before:The Roky Erickson Anthology.He also appears on Sixty Acres'
contribution to the 2003 release, Ain't
No Grave:A Tribute to
Traditional and Public Domain Songs, "Is the Battle Over?".
Unfortunately, Hess would
not live to see its release:He
died of heart failure on 12th May 2003, in Blue Bell,
Pennsylvania.He was only 51.Harry Hess continues to influence a
new generation of guitarists.Pat Betts of Altair Four cites Hess as one of his main
influences.The two of them got
to be friends when they were both living in Philadelphia in the 1990s.Steel guitarist Bill Llewellyn
credits Hess for background tracks for a pair of demos he recorded in 2001
and 2003.Hess was also a
member of Heritage Guitar, Inc., a group devoted to the craftsmanship of
guitars and other stringed instruments.
Doug Sahm
& The Texas Tornados recordings
Cowboy Peyton
Place (Doug Sahm)
I Love The Way
You Love (The Way I Love You) (Atwood Allen)
Here he is with the Sir Douglas Quintet on
steel guitar on their "Nuevo Laredo"...
