When Stevie Ray Vaughan (SRV) was alive, he was the best blues guitarist around. I will gladly fight anyone who disagrees. His love of Jimi Hendrix, though apparent, was built upon in truly unique style. His adaptation of the standard blues shuffle into the jerky ’Texas Shuffle’ became his signature, and backing band Double Trouble continue to wield a hefty influence on their native Austin today. But the thing that separated Stevie from every other blues guitarist on the planet was his tone. That thick, steel, Texas blues tone packed with feeling is his greatest legacy.
Many guitarists today try to replicate the sound and though possible to emulate with the right gear, no-one is ever going to replicate it. I’ve modified my Ibanez TS9 back to a TS-808 Tube Screamer (now re-released); I play a strat (with a Texas humbucker in the mid position); I use a CryBaby Wah (as anyone should) – but it’s nothing without the amps.
Where can I find a 1959 Fender Bassman or a 1967 Super Reverb, and how could I buy them without the associated costs ending in my wife filing for divorce? There are things best left to the experts. Shit, even if I had all the gear, I couldn’t buy Stevie’s fingers or soul.
Stevie Ray Vaughan died August 27, 1990. Soon, it’ll be 20 years since his passing. I went on a pilgrimage to Austin one year, where I sat down by the memorial statue of him and watched as people walking by, stopped to touch his hand and wish him “Good Morning, Stevie”. Someone had even put a flower in his picking hand. It was heartening to see the impact that this guitarist could have on his hometown.
But it was bigger than that, Stevie shook up the world. Maybe not the pop world, but then blues can’t do that – it’s made its contribution already. After overcoming a string of alcohol and drug problems, Stevie was 35 years old when his Wisconsin helicopter crashed into a hill tragically killing all five people on board.
Perhaps my favourite of all Stevie’s performances is Live at El Mocambo (£6.99 from Play.com). It contains, for me, all the elements that made him a guitar legend. The rapid licks, strung out overbends and electric showmanship; the vomit-inducing, spine-tingling passion all propelled by a soul and natural ability the likes of which we have not seen or heard since.