Don "Sugarcane" Harris

Lineup - Third Street Songwriters Festival

src: thirdstreetsongwritersfestival.com

Don Francis Bowman "Sugarcane" Harris (June 18, 1938 - November 30, 1999) was a violinist and American rock and roll player.

Video Don "Sugarcane" Harris

Biography

Harris was born and raised in Pasadena, California, and started an act called Don and Dewey with his childhood friend Dewey Terry in the mid-1950s. Although they were recorded by Art Rupe on its Specialty label, mostly using the services of the legendary drummer Earl Palmer, Don and Dewey had no hits. However, Harris and Terry co-wrote early classic rock and roll songs such as "Farmer John", "Justine", "I'm Leaving It Up to You", and "Big Boy Pete," all of which became hits for other artists..

Harris was nicknamed "Sugarcane" by Johnny Otis's band leader and that was to stay with him throughout his life.

After parting from Dewey Terry in the 1960s, Harris moved almost exclusively to the electric violin. He reappears as a sideman with John Mayall & amp; The Bluesbreakers and Frank Zappa, best known for their performances on Hot Rats, and on the album Mothers of Invention Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh . His vocals and solo violin blues on the cover of Little Richard "Jump From My Heart to You" at Weasels , and his long solo in My Weight "Long House Used For Long Live" on Weeny is considered the highlight of the album. Reportedly, he was saved from prison sentence by Zappa. Zappa has long admired Harris's game and freed him from prison, reviving his career and delivering it in a long period of creativity for a forgotten violin virtuoso. He played several live concerts with the band Zappa in 1969.

During the early 1970s, Cane ruled out the Food and Pure Drug Act that included drummer Paul Lagos, guitarist Harvey Mandel and Randy Resnick, and bassist Victor Conte, who was the founder of the Gulf Region Labor Cooperative (BALCO). Conte replaces Larry Taylor who is the original bass player. His first solo album (with the back cover art by underground poster artist Rick Griffin) is a forgotten masterpiece of blues, jazz, classical and funk compositions, and his 1973 live album, Sugarcane's Got The Blues, recorded at the Berlin Jazz Festival show musicians who are proficient in his game.

In the 1980s, Sugarcane was a member of the Los Angeles experimental rock band, Tupelo Chain Sex.

Harris died on November 27, 1999 in Los Angeles, California.