By Charles McClure
news@ltview.com
One right after another comes through the doors of Ray and Shane Hennig’s Heart Of Texas (HOT) music store singing the same tune — “I wouldn’t buy a guitar anywhere else.”
Longtime Lakeway resident Ray Hennig, now 81, has managed to literally become an Austin Institution. Since 1974, no local music store has seen the cavalcade of stars that has paraded through the doors of his South Austin location.

A Korean War veteran, Ray didn’t seem a likely candidate to become a guitar guru when he first came home from the military.
“I was born in Coryell County and was a home builder and owned the Hennig Lumber Company originally,” Ray recalled from the office of his iconic store. It’s a family affair — his youngest son Shane works the professional sound end of the business while his wife Mary Jo helps keep the books — and everything else — straight. It isn’t unusual to see a gaggle of grandchildren running around the floor. On this day, Shane and his wife Sheri’s young ones, Landon and Brittany, were darting about in and out of guitars, amplifiers and other assorted instruments.
Ray built a host of homes before finding his way into the music business — including one for former President George H.W. Bush.
Like so many Texans, Hennig is from the strong German stock that is found all over the state. His great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S.
Initially, the music business was a sideline to his lumber interests. He opened his first store in 1960 in McGregor, about 16 miles west of Waco.
“My brother and I were partners in a beautiful lumber business,” Ray said. “Music was always a hobby. I would build houses all day until a very close friend — Rufus Mooney — got me into the music business. He use to come to my lumber business and we would talk. After I’d close the lumber store for the day, I had another little building in town where I would sell guitars and he would teach. He was wonderful person, a great picker — one of the best — and he really inspired me. If it hadn’t been for him, I’d probably still be building homes.”
But music, as it turned out, was a lot more fun than building homes.
“My original investment in the music business was $129,” Ray chuckled. “I bought a Fender Music Master guitar.”
By 1962, the night gig intended to make a few extra dollars was turning into a full-time enterprise. He opened his first HOT in Waco. One soon followed in Temple.
“Austin musicians kept hearing about me and would travel to Waco or Temple to buy guitars,” Hennig explained. “I could offer the best deals and could discount because I didn’t have any overhead. The same was true for amplifiers. I have no idea how many 15,000 watt Marshall double stack amplifiers I sold out of there — it was a bunch. They would usually sell for $1,100 at most places, but I could sell them for $900.”
One look no further than Led Zeppelin’s guitarist extraordinaire Jimmy Page to know what the Marshall double stack amp did for rock and roll.
“Charlie Hatchett (guitarist and vocalist for the Fabulous Chevelles who also booked acts all over Austin for decades) is one of the reasons I’m in Austin,” Ray said. “Charlie would book these acts and send them to me in Waco for instruments. The musicians figured out pretty quickly that I could give super discounts. When I would arrive at work every Saturday, I’d have a long line of Austin musicians waiting for me.”
Musicians being, well, musicians, had a way of getting caught in Waco-area speed trap in those days. They would bring their vehicular violations to Hennig.
“I guess I paid so many tickets that Charlie and others said I needed to open a store in Austin,” Ray mused.
So he did and history followed.
“I had planned on only being open three days a week until I got established,” Ray said. However, HOT was an immediate success with the Austin music scene.
It was a natural fit.
“As fast as I opened the doors here in Austin I could forget about the notion of ‘three days a week,’” Ray said with a sly smile. “There wasn’t any ‘three days a week’ to it. Man — it was a full time job and then some. The store started making money immediately.”
And the musicians have kept coming over the years.
“In 1974, George Straight came in and bought a ‘Baby D’ Martin,” Ray said. “Gosh — you name the superstars and they have probably been in here.”
Hennig was in the right place at the right time. Pioneering acts like the 13th Floor Elevators, Jerry Jeff Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band, and yes — Willie Nelson — had already helped the local music community earn national recognition. Austin gave birth to Acid Rock before any of the acts that later proliferated Haight-Ashbery in San Francisco. Austin is were Progressive Country took root. In the 1970s, ground breaking Punk Rock and New Wave bands called this area of Texas “home.” But Blues was the backbone of it all.
“Clifford Antone [at the original Antone’s on Guadalupe] would book these acts and they would show up at my store and need equipment,” Ray said. “I would loan them the equipment and Clifford would make sure they had a gig. That is how we kept these bands here. Clifford would give a lot of these guys jobs and not even know if they could play or not.”
More often than not, they could, and Antone’s became a bell weather for Blues in Texas attracting ground breaking musicians like Buddy Guy and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
“That is what really made Austin the Live Music Capital of the World,” Ray observed.
While Austin may be the “Live Music Capital of the World,” Hennig said it was accomplished in spite of the city.
“They didn’t do anything to help, in fact, they fought the Austin music scene virtually every step of the way,” Ray said. “And they’re still doing it.”
While he sent thousands of guitars out the door over the years, no single instrument Ray ever sold would elevate the fame of HOT as did the one he sold blues guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughn. Ray sold him the famed “Number One,” which Vaughn affectionately called his “First Wife.” According to legend, the guitar was a 1959 Fender Stratocaster, although others claim it was actually a Chocolate Sunburst Stratocaster produced in 1961.
After purchasing the instrument in 1974 from HOT, First Wife was Vaughn’s main performing instrument and he used it on all of his studio albums.
Vaughn claimed that he knew First Wife was a great instrument on sight and was struck by the thick, oddly shaped D-neck.
“I didn’t even have to play it — I just knew by the way it looked that it would sound great,” Vaughn said before his death in 1990. “I was carrying my ‘63 Strat and asked if [Ray] would like to trade. Thank God he did,”
Vaughn switched the tremolo bar to the left hand as a nod to his idol Jimi Hendrix. The change left a large gap in the body which was covered by a “custom” sticker. Later, he placed his SRV initials on the guitar, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Ray says musicians come from all over the world to purchase copies made by Fender that are dressed up to look just like Vaughn’s.
“I don’t ever advertise that I sold him that guitar,” Ray said. “I always tell folks that just because you purchase a guitar like Stevie Ray’s, doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to play like him.”
The truth is that he doesn’t need to advertise that Vaughn bought his beloved First Wife from HOT. People literally come by the bus loads to see the store where the legendary blues guitarist — arguably the best of his genre ever — bought his favorite axe.
“I always oblige and tell what I know when asked,” Ray said.
While he may have sold Vaughn his “First Wife,” Ray also knew the man who invented the brand — Leo Fender.
“I met Mr. Fender first on a trip to California,” Ray said. “Later he came to the Waco store. He wasn’t a man of many words, but he did share some secrets with me because I was such a big dealer for him.”
Ray has met an array of stars in his career and has made close friends with many.
“I guess Dwight Yoakam was as big a surprise as any of them,” Ray noted. “He came to Austin to film a movie and spent a lot of time here. He was just as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet. He would talk to customers and was just a fantastic person. Very down to earth guy.”
It isn’t uncommon for one of his famed customers to drop by for a visit.
“One day a while back, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top dropped by and spent an entire afternoon here,” Ray said. “We had a great time. He was a customer of mine dating back to my Waco days. We first met back in the 1960s and he kinda disappeared for a while. Then ZZ Top hit it big. It was really good to see him rolling in here. I guess I kinda recognized him in a way. Of course when I first knew him, he didn’t have the long beard. But he was just the same old guy I remembered. He even bought a guitar that he could have had for free just for old times sake.”
Most of the musicians Ray meets are not famous and certainly not rich.
“Musicians hardly ever have any money,” Ray said. “So it is important to me to get them a guitar that they can afford and will also be a good instrument for them.”
In many cases over the years, Ray has essentially given guitars away to a host of struggling players.
“I think that kind of thing come back to you,” Ray said. “I wasn’t broke when I got into this business, so I had enough money to help a lot of starving musicians. At least it has really come back to me in a wonderful way. Every day I have people who walk in here and thank me for helping them years ago. These folks become regular customers, and better still, they become friends.”
He has seen the cookie-cutter, mass chain music stores come and go. Ray said he likes to stick with what works and his three keys to success are “Martin, Gibson and Fender.”
“I don’t sell keyboards,” Ray said. “I read once where keyboards were the number one thing that puts most music stores out of business.”
For years, HOT sold more Fenders than any other store in the nation. He has a wide variety available on the showroom floor — and then there’s a special stock of more expensive guitars for the more discriminating player who is willing to part with a few grand for a first-class instrument. Sometimes Ray opens the store on off hours and even the occasional Sunday to accommodate big name stars coming through town looking for a new guitar.
“I don’t like to open the store on Sundays,” Ray said. “I’m a serious Christian and my dad always said that if you had to open your business on Sunday, perhaps you should look for another job.”
However, Ray said he will soon start opening the store on Sunday afternoons to accomodate a flood out-of-town customers.
Ray is so iconic that he is the inspiration for the music store owner on the Fox network’s “King of the Hill” series. The State of Texas even declared Ray Hennig Day during the 1980s.
Over the years friends, musicians and politicians alike have written testimonials about Ray’s contributions to the Austin music scene, as well as his legendary generosity.
The future of HOT is secure with his youngest son Shane ready to take the helm. For years, Shane has run the pro audio side of the business, setting up a host of national acts with custom PA systems wired with acoustic precision tailored specifically for the venue and performer.
“Shane is something of a genius when it comes to sound,” Ray said. “He’s just a natural at it. And he understands the business very well.”
Natural, perhaps, but it probably didn’t hurt Shane’s knowledge base to grow up in a music store meeting some of the best in the business.
“It is good to be able to work around your family,” Shane said. “And the work is really interesting.”
Ray’s eldest son Steven, also a Lakeway resident, is working on a Branson-style project in San Antonio.
His wife Mary Jo takes all the commotion that seems to never stop in the store in stride.
“We have amazing people who come in here every day,” she said. “I get to here great stories and it is a real blessing to be in such a family-styled atmosphere. All of our grandkids have practically grown up at the store.”
The two met in 1975 and have been inseparable since.
Ray purchased land on Lake Travis years ago.
“I bought the highest hill on the lake,” Ray said. “A subdivision, Hennig Heights, that has come out of that property over on Flintrock Road.”
Ray has two sons — Steven and Shane, and two step-daughters — Dee Ann and Debbie. The Hennigs have seven grandchildren. One grandson, Zack, wowed the 2008 graduating ceremony for the Lake Travis Independent School District with his rendition of “With A Little Help From My Friends.”
While Shane is set to take over HOT eventually, Ray doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. He still loves mixing it up with his customers and setting up players with a good instrument that will allow them a full creative expression. Suffice it to say, retirement probably isn’t in the cards for him.