Remembering Stevie Ray Vaughan
Posted on 27th Aug 09 by Colm Cullen | 
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Nowadays, you don’t seem to have to do much to be called a legend. Most of them are leg ends, as the saying goes. But on this day in 1990, an absolute true legend died. Stevie Ray Vaughan was the brightest spark in blues in years. And a poxy helicopter killed him. SRV was an [...]
Nowadays, you don’t seem to have to do much to be called a legend. Most of them are leg ends, as the saying goes. But on this day in 1990, an absolute true legend died. Stevie Ray Vaughan was the brightest spark in blues in years. And a poxy helicopter killed him. SRV was an epiphany the first time I heard him, and still is. Hearing Stevie Ray was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life (and still is). He blended blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s glorious. There’s few artists that I’ve come across that can have such an uplifting effect on the listener. Stevie Ray is one. He may be gone, but he lives on in his musical legacy.
Illustration by Paddy Lynch
For the younger readers, this next bit will be like something from Cro-Magnon times. Remember – there was no thieving of music off the interweb, very few radio stations that played real music, and MTV was the new kid on the block. I used to sit there listening to Tommy Hayes on the Ferguson Studio 90 stereo we had. The tape deck (that would be a cassette tape, children) would have a C90 tape in, permanently set to record but on pause. Tommy would say what he was about to play, and if it was a track by a band you were interested in, you hit the pause button to record it. Sometimes you’d take a chance, and just record someone you didn’t know. Stevie Ray wasn’t quite one of the latter. I heard the opening riffs of the Buddy Guy song Mary Had A Little Lamb, and hit the pause button. It was a revelation. A nursery rhyme as a song?!? And where the hell did that guitar come from? The next day, I seemed to be the only one in school that had heard it! And then there was the trip into town to buy an album by this Stevie Vaughan character.
The album I bought was Texas Flood, the 1983 debut for Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. From the opening chords of Love Struck Baby to the end of Lenny, I’m not sure if I took a breath. I was blown away. Now this was real music! And whatever about the baby part, I was definitely love struck. I couldn’t even wait until the following weekend. I bunked off double commerce with Mr.Daly , and went and bought 1984’s Couldn’t Stand The Weather and 1985’s Soul To Soul. I think I might have had a sexual experience when I heard Voodoo Child (Slight Return) on the former, and I know I did for Little Wing on the latter. These were two Hendrix songs that I knew very, very well, and loved. And then there was Stevie Ray’s twist on them. He was already heading for godhood in my teenage eyes (and ears).
The only downside was the 4 year wait to the next album, 1989’s In Step. In the middle of the wait, though, I found out about David Bowie’s 1983 album, Let’s Dance. Stevie Ray did the lead guitar! I had a new album to listen to! I wouldn’t have been a big Bowie fan at the time, but it was Stevie Ray. And that’s all that mattered.
Unbeknownst to me, Stevie Ray was having serious drug and alcohol problems. Apparently the whiskey was destroying his stomach lining, while the cocaine was destroying his intestines. He got help, and beat his demons, but it was too late to save his marriage to the infamous Lenny. He came through it, however, and released his most successful album to date, In Step. And then a year later came one of my favourites, Family Style by The Vaughan Brothers. It was Stevie Ray and his brother Jimmie getting together and releasing an album that was <insert your own rave statement here>. Fantastic? Yes. Excellent? Most definitely. An album that dripped “we’re brothers, let’s have some fun”? Oh hell yes! There is not even a remotely average song on here. This album epitomised to me the love of 2 brothers, and the sheer joy of music. It’s pure class. I love it, love it, love it (sorry).
During the In Step tour, the band played two dates in East Troy, Wisconsin on August 25th and 26th 1990 with Eric Clapton. On stage he played with brother Jimmie, Clapton, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, some of his heroes. To beat traffic, 4 helicopters were booked for after the gig. The helicopter Stevie Ray was in crashed into a hill, killing him, the pilot and three members of Clapton’s band. And so it ended. August 27th 1990.
When I heard he was dead, I couldn’t believe it. 5 years since I found him, and now he’s gone? Why? Where’s the fairness in such a talent being taken away from us? I suppose I should have been used to it. That 5 years since I found him had cost us Phil Lynott, Cliff Burton, Son House, and others like acting legends Ray MacAnally, Greta Garbo, Lee Van Cleef, and writer Robert Heinlein. Jaysus, even Mel Blanc died!
Even as I write this, the barman Aidan has put on Pride And Joy. I introduced him to Stevie Ray, and he though the was great. Once the man is heard, there’s no getting away from him.
But Stevie Ray Vaughan‘s legacy is greater than that. He relaunched blues in the 1980’s. He made people listen to the blues again. And I personally think that is what he would like more than any other kudos. He made people listen, and then they looked up his influences, and listened to them. He always came across as an unassuming guy who loved music more than most. That is his legacy – the music.
And I miss him.
Hope he’s having a good jam with Rory.
Drop-D Rating: Absolute Legend
Illustration by Paddy Lynch
Tags: Add new tag, austin, Blues, blues rock, chris layton, Double Trouble, god, legend, SRV, Stevie Ray Vaughan, texas, The Vaughan Brothers, tommy shannon
Lovely to see the legend remembered, only for my guitar teacher I would have gone a long time without hearing him.
Live version of “Life without you” on the copy of In Step I have is something special to listen to.
(Love the artwork too, fair play!)
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Martin – that proves that radio now is crap. There are no longer shows dealing with a wide range of musical tastes. Every station is playing the same range of bland music. Now, alot of people obviously like this stuff, so the stations have to play it; but there’s alot of people out there that like different music, and they are just ignored.
You used to have John Peel and Tommy Vance at the BBC, and they really played outside the box. In Ireland, there’s Dave Fanning and Tom Dunne, and that’s about it. The pirate stations used to be where you could hear different styles. Phantom got a license and veered towards more mainstream music. We need more shows that play rock, metal, punk, blues, jazz, etc. – all the downtrodden and ignored areas of music. The areas with the most dedicated fans. They have to be more dedicated, coz you have to go and find the bands as you won’t hear them anywhere on the radio.
I know it’s easier to find bands nowadays with the internet, but when Tom Hayes was doing his show twice a week, it was a great way to just sit down and relax (something that people also do less of now). Sit there, no tv/monitor, chill, listen to a range of bands you may or may not know for two hours. It was bliss. You didn’t have to search – radio brought it to you. And radio is covered by that TV licence we all have to buy. So why isn’t there a larger spectrum of music covered? We’re paying for it!