Jess Barr Death, Obituary – A musician and club owner from the Dallas-Fort Worth area has passed away: On the evening of December 5, Jess Barr, who had been a member of the groundbreaking alternative country rock band Slobberbone, passed away at the age of 46. According to family friends, he suffered from a cardiac problem in his later years. Barr, a native of Pensacola who has also lived in West Texas and New Jersey, was the guitarist for Slobberbone during the band’s heyday, which was when the quartet put its hometown Denton on the map and created a vibrant local scene at bars like the Barley House. Barr has also lived in West Texas and New Jersey.
In addition to playing with Slobberbone, he was a member of the band The Drams. Slobberbone was essential in the formation of the emerging alt-country genre of the 1990s. The band toured with bands such as Son Volt, Drive By Truckers, and even mainstream artists such as Cheap Trick, playing to captivated audiences both in the United States and internationally.
Barr became a member of Slobberbone after the band had already released their second album, titled Barrel Chested, in 1997. “Jess had a full-ride scholarship in Austin, but he quit to join us,” remembered singer Brent Best. “Jess had a full-ride scholarship in Austin.”
His catchphrase was “Jessie Barr on the dazzling gold guitar,” which was a reference to the Les Paul that was his hallmark instrument. In 2014, he parted ways with the band, having received the approval of Best as well as band mates Brian Lane and Tony Harper, who praised him for the contributions he’d made on albums such as Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today, “especially the solo he did on ‘Josephine,'” they said. He left the band with their blessing. Fans were concerned when he left that the person who took his place might not replicate his signature pose, which consisted of raising one finger up into the air. Someone posed the question, “Will the new guy do that point thing Jess does?”
In 2013, he and his business partner Danny Balis founded Twilite Lounge, a bar in Deep Ellum. Two years later, in 2017, they built a branch location in Fort Worth. According to Jimmy Morton, who was his partner in the Fort Worth version, both establishments won honors for best bar and provided a stage for local musicians. This is another one of his legacies. Morton says, “Providing assistance to local bands is something that Jess, Danny, and I have all advocated for.” On December 6, as a mark of respect for his life and legacy, Twilight Lounge shut down both of its locations.
“We closed both the Dallas and Fort Worth locations of Twilite Lounge in order to honor him and provide his family as well as our own with the opportunity to grieve,” says Morton. “We switched off our lights, and it became pitch black.” Barr was celebrated not only as a skilled guitarist and banjo player but also for his personable and down-to-earth disposition, according to Morton, whose friendship with Barr dates back more than 20 years to the days when it began at the Barley House. One of his friends described him as “one of a kind” and “the nicest guy you could meet,” adding that he could always pick up the conversation right where it had left off.
Someone else remarked, “Jess was known to have the friendliest smile and the sharpest wit. And he was a formidable soloist in his own right.” Morton describes him as an extremely low-key individual. According to him, they used to make a running joke about how when Jess would get on stage, he would transform into a “rock star.” Barr’s wife Ashley, son Liam, and sister Amy are the ones who will carry on after him. The services are not yet publicized to the public.