Guitarist and harmonica player who was 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)
Sources:
1. https://www.discogs.com/artist/4045736-Harry-Hess-2
2. http://www.rahul.net/thinker/firststeeldemo.html
3. http://drenrecords.com/sixtyacres/
4. http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2003/WIR20030524.html
5. http://www.oldies.com/product-view/10949G.html
6. http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/album/album.cgi?ALBUMID=527662
7. http://www.heritageguitar.com/artists/
8. http://altair-four.com/a4-promokit.pdf
9. http://www.buymusichere.net/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=13&upc=03617299332