According to Hennig, store employees and the autographed portraits plastered on the walls at his Austin store, his clients have left their mark in many genres. George Jones and George Strait, Merle Haggard and Dwight Yoakam, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Temple’s Billy Holt, Tejano music pioneer Little Joe Hernandez and Austin icon Jerry Jeff Walker, Crash Landing and Flyleaf - a Belton band whose first album went platinum - have all patronized Heart of Texas Music.
Bell County churches and schools also rely on HOT for sound systems.
Hennig said he is the model for music store owner Earl on the animated FOX comedy “King of the Hill.” Hennig said people have called the store and asked, “Hey, is that you on King of the Hill?”
Hennig is a Country Music Association of Texas Hall of Fame member. The Austin American-Statesman dubbed him “Guitar Godfather” in a feature, and the state of Texas announced Ray Hennig Day in 1988.
- Fred Afflerbach
