About Don "Sugarcane" Harris

Singer, violonist, guitarist and piano player Don "Sugarcane" Harris (born on 18 June 1938 in Pasadena (Ca) learned violin with bluesman L.C. Robinson. With his high school pal Dewey Terry they joined, still teenagers, a local doo woop group, The Squires with which they recorded as early as 1954 (Lucy Lou). Under the name Don & Dewey they formed a duo, singing together and playing various instruments. They enjoyed several small hits with the Specialty label between 1957 and 1959 (Jungle Hop). 
Don Harris (nicknamed Sugarcane by Johnny Otis) is much more blues oriented than Dewey. He recorded a handful of 45s under his name, mainly a string of superb violin instrumentals. After leaving Dewey, Sugarcane played in several bands with Harvey Mandel, Frank Zappa, Johnny Otis, Pure Food & Drug Act and moreover inside John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with whom he will tour for a couple of years and record several wonderful violin blues solos on the Mayall's albums USA Union and Back to the Roots. 
After that, Don will record albums under his name in a style much more progressive jazz oriented (he even will cut an album with Jean Luc Ponty). Don died of blood clot in his lung in Los Angeles, 30 November 1999.