John Erhardt, Wussy and Ass Ponys Guitarist, Dead at 58

John Erhardt, longtime guitarist and pedal steel player in the Ohio rock groups Wussy and Ass Ponys, has died. He was 58. Erhardt’s bandmates confirmed the news on the official Wussy Facebook account earlier today (May 7). “There’s no easy way to say this but our friend and band mate John Erhardt has left us. He died this past Monday,” the group wrote. “The details aren’t ours to know or share so as a courtesy please don’t inquire.” Find the group’s full statement below.

Erhardt played in Ass Ponys from 1988 to 1995 alongside future Wussy member Chuck Cleaver. Erhardt then rejoined the group in 2003. “John and I have been in and out of bands together for the last thirty years or better,” the statement on Wussy’s Facebook page reads. “We started Ass Ponys without ever discussing what we wanted to be or do. We just came up with stuff, played it the best we could and eventually made records.”

The post goes on to recap the transitional period between Ass Ponys and Wussy, including a time when there was discussion of changing Ass Ponys’ name due to its uncommercial nature:

I remember getting home from a practice one night where we’d discussed it and getting a call from John, who let me know that “we’re not changing our name... it’s chicken shit.” So we kept Ass Ponys and drifted through major label land for a couple of albums. Flash forward a few years. John had been out of and back in Ass Ponys and I was starting a new band called Wussy. AP was dissolving and I got another call from John. “Wussy huh? You picked another winner.” A few more years went by and through some sort of osmosis John joined Wussy. He just showed up at a practice one night and never left.

It was 2012 when Erhardt joined Wussy. He played guitar and pedal steel on their last three albums: 2014’s Attica!, 2016’s Forever Sounds, and 2018’s What Heaven Is Like.

In between his tenure with Ass Ponys and Wussy, Erhardt cut a record called eleven:eleven. The album was recorded in 2001, but was only released in 2011 (on November 11, to be exact).