Austin based musician Gene Kurtz wrote Treat Her Right

[busgal]

No official obit yet but Austin has lost another member of it's
extended musical family. I met him when he was with Dale Watson and
saw him for the last time in 2010.

2007 profile from the Austin Chronicle

http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2007-08-31/531657/

Gene Kurtz
The Bottom Line
BY MARGARET MOSER, FRI., AUG. 31, 2007

Gene Kurtz
PHOTO BY WINKER
Hey, Hey, Hey!
No. 2 hit from 1965, 'Treat Her Right,' by Roy Head & Gene Kurtz:
'Just one of them songs that hangs around"
BY MARGARET MOSER
Roy Head
I Wanna Tell You a Story
BY MARGARET MOSER
Gene Kurtz
The Bottom Line
BY MARGARET MOSER
If Gene Kurtz hadn't quit the Rolling Stones, his life story would
read very differently.
Not those poor boys from London town who wanted to spend the night
with girls while Liverpool's Fab Four wanted to hold hands but "more
of a singing group than a band, and the first group I ever named" in
San Antonio, where Kurtz grew up. The Stones gave way to the Paradons,
then Denny Ezba & the Goldens, featuring future Doug Sahm sideman
Augie Meyers, but bigger things lay ahead when Kurtz joined up with a
San Marcos outfit known as Roy Head & the Traits.
The Traits were one of hundreds of dance bands around the country in
the early Sixties, much like the Northwest's Paul Revere & the
Raiders, Michigan's Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, or Louisiana's
Boogie Kings. They were jukebox bands that knew all the hits of the
day; often traveled with horn sections, playing record hops and
dances; and always had a charismatic lead singer. Bands like that
always needed a good bass player.
"A bass player is the one guy that can't get away with waiting around
to see what the chords are," Kurtz asserts. That confidence steered
him well over the course of his career. After writing one of the
earliest white-to-black crossover hits vaporized and Kurtz left the
Traits, he joined up with another Texan, Edgar Winter. The bassist
played and recorded on Winter's debut album, 1970's Entrance.
Kurtz's playing drew as much from R&B as it did from rock & roll.
Although Entrance didn't make a big splash, it posited him in the
Seventies rock arena and provided him his entrance to working with
other bands and performers. The names sound more like a music index
than credentials: Bo Diddley, Pat Boone, Charlie Rich, Elvin Jones,
Kay Starr, Sunny Ozuna, the Mills Brothers, Charley Pride, the
Coasters, Andy Williams, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Louise Mandrell, Mose
Allison, the Fifth Dimension, and Michel Legrand.
Not your everyday rock-star résumé, and neither is the Austin-dwelling
Kurtz's local playlist: Miss Molly & the Whips, James Hand, Mary
Cutrufello, Bobby Doyle, and Tony Campise. That steady rhythm landed
Kurtz in Dale Watson's group several years ago.
"I've played in bass-player hell," laughs Herb Belofsky, drummer for
Dale Watson's Lonestars. "Playing with Gene is bass-play-er heaven."
"We appeared on Friday Night Lights and played [my song] 'Way Down
Texas Way,'" points out Kurtz. "It was fun, shot at a local Chevy
dealership. I've been on a lot of TV in my time, but I've never quite
done anything like that before. It takes hours to set up, and then
you're only on for a minute. I'm glad it's been renewed; it's a good
show."
Kurtz looks pleased as he recounts the Lonestars' experience and
reflects on another professional high point. "To live to see Bob Dylan
playing lead guitar on 'Treat Her Right' is pretty amazing, too."
Besides shooting for the small screen and keeping up with Dale
Watson's unflagging pace, Kurtz – tall, eloquent, handsome, and fit at
age 64 – is stepping back into role of rhythm guitar for the Traits
instead of bass. Roy Head and the band are reuniting to be inducted
into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame at the end of September in San
Marcos. Most of the original Traits he'll play with haven't had the
chance to keep up their chops the way Kurtz has, yet he's confident
the act's frontman will backflip to the challenge.
"When they see him doing [a backflip] at his age, it's hard not to
enjoy it. And if he isn't perfect, Roy will save the day because he's
Roy, and it will be a thing of beauty. Roy's one of a kind."

[busgal]

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/10/gene_kurtz_treat_her_right_co-.php



Gene Kurtz, "Treat Her Right" Co-Writer, Passes Away
By Chris Gray Mon., Oct. 24 2011 at 1:00 PM
Categories: Miles-tones, Texas Me
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Photo by Winker
​Bassist Gene Kurtz, who co-wrote Roy Head's 1965 hit "Treat Her
Right" and went on to play with a wide range of artists across rock,
R&B, jazz and country, passed away Sunday night, according to a post
on his Facebook page. Kurtz had just celebrated his 69th birthday last
week.
A cause of death was not listed, but several updates on Kurtz's Web
site this summer posted by his longtime girlfriend, Dell Edwards, said
he had been undergoing chemotherapy. He was inducted into the
Songwriter Hall of Fame at the Texas Legacy Music Awards in San
Antonio last month.

Kurtz was a native of San Antonio and lived in Austin. He played with
a number of bands in San Antonio, including the Rolling Stones (no,
not those Rolling Stones, but "more of a singing group than a band,"
he told the Austin Chronicle's Margaret Moser in 2007) and Denny Ezba
& the Goldens with future Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornados organist
Augie Meyers, before hooking up with Head and his San Marcos-based
band the traits in the mid-'60s.

Built on arguably one of the most recognizable bass lines of the '60s,
"Treat Her Right" reached No. 2 on both the Billboard pop and R&B
charts in 1965. Since then, it has been covered by a long list of
artists including Otis Redding, Barbara Mandrell, George Thorogood,
Johnny Thunders, Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.
The song is featured in Alan Parker's 1990 film The Commitments, and
remains the climax of Roy Head's live show. Kurtz also wrote "You're
Almost Tuff," which is "considered to be Head's most rockin' record,"
according to the bassist's Web site, and is available on Treat Her
Right: The Best of Roy Head.

After leaving Head's band, Kurtz played on Beaumont native Edgar
Winter's 1970 debut LP, Entrance. The credits on his Web site also
list him playing with Bo Diddley, Booker T., Paul Revere & the
Raiders, Mose Allison, Percy Sledge, Bobby "Blue" Bland, the Coasters,
and the Fifth Dimension. Several current or former Houston artists are
listed as well, including Miss Molly & the Whips, Ezra Charles, Johnny
Nash, Johnny Bush, and Johnny Lee.


In his later years, Kurtz reunited with Head for the 2008 Austin Music
Awards (switching to rhythm guitar) and was a longtime member of Dale
Watson & His Lonestars. He wrote "Way Down Texas Way" and appeared
with Watson and his band performing the song in an episode of NBC's
Friday Night Lights.

"I've been on a lot of TV in my time, but I've never quite done

anything like that before," Kurtz told the Austin Chronicle. "It takes

hours to set up, and then you're only on for a minute."

"Playing with Gene is bass-player heaven," added Herb Belofsky,
drummer for the Lonestars at the time.

Belofsky, who posted the news of Kurtz's death on Facebook, said any
memorials and donations to defray Kurtz's medical expenses could be
sent to him. A memorial is in the planning stages, he said.

Besides Edwards, information on any other survivors was not
immediately avaiable.