Foo - Who loves Stevie Ray Vaughan?

Fellow Foos,
We are all often asked, 'What is your favorite type of music'? Mine happens to be The Blues since it involves the guitar and it is totally freaking Epic on all tone scales. Anyway, I purchased Martin Scorsese's collection of Stevie Ray Vaughan today at the local record shop. Although I've listened to all of the songs on this CD, Martin did an awesome job in this collection. The collection contains many live performances that I've never had an eargasim too before. It's an amazing collection folks and has pulled me away from the couch and allowed me to perfect my mad air guitar skillz tonight.

Anyway, are there any fellow Foo Blues folks out there? Just ask'in? Oh, and I've been drinking all night long and having a great time. Thank God I'm out of Gasoline and matches :)

Couch

Who doesn't?

Oh crap, I just set my dad's Fiero on fire and I wasn't even driving it. Oh boy!

Mudkipz

His music? Yes.

Shame that so many of the most talented musicians have met untimely ends. :(

http://www.deadbluesguys.com/images/vaughan_stephen_ray_images/vaughan_stephen_ray_tt_02hp.jpg

His music? Yes.

Shame that so many of the most talented musicians have met untimely ends. :(

Yup. I was very lucky to see him in 89. I still have goose bumps thinking of the show.

Mudkipz

timeless music by an amazing artist...

http://www.deadbluesguys.com/images/vaughan_stephen_ray_images/vaughan_stephen_ray_tt_02hp.jpg

This pic is making me cry. Probably since I just listend to 'The Sky Is Crying'.

Mudkipz

His music? Yes.

Shame that so many of the most talented musicians have met untimely ends. :(

1987... even though the video is bad... this is still a whole new level of awesome.

YouTube - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey - Look at Little Sister

I was fortunate to see Jeff Healy play on several occasions and am sure that SRV was just as blown away as I was the first time I heard him play.

I live in Austin, and living here, you have to like SRV and his works.

He's one of those people who I would give anything to be able to go back in time and see him live. When it comes to guitarists, there's none better.

Me too.

who doesn't?

+∞

saw him when he headlined a fall or springfest at SUNY Buffalo. Strange lineup. Cyndi Lauper was also on the bill.... SRV was simply amazing.

"The house is a-rockin, come on in!" :thumb:

Who doesn't?

Exactly.

I saw him in Saratoga in 1985. He was one talented dude, for sure.

:50:

I couldn't drag a friend to see him one more time, I think it was that last summer, 'cause he was opening for Joe Cocker. I tried to tell him we didn't have to stay for that. Anyway, he was a mainstay of mid 80s festival circuit for sure.

I swear my fave record of his was the last, w/ Jimmie, the Vaughan Bros record.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=vaughan+brothers&aq=f

His biography is well worth reading. His death was made even more tragic if you know that he finally was living a clean, happy, healthy life at the end.

I marvel at his talent every single time I hear his guitar singing.

If you don't like SRV you have no business listening to rock or blues music. Best friggin blues guitar player I ever heard, and one of the best overall players period.

voodoo child

He's one of those people who I would give anything to be able to go back in time and see him live. When it comes to guitarists, there's none better.

The 1983 El Mocambo show video is highly recommended. His peak, imo, and how refreshing is it to see three guys making solid live music in an age of quick cut edited videos and lip-synching, which was starting even back then?

I find him to have been so impressive due to his making the most of the standard blues pentatonic runs, but perhaps more importantly, once he broke nationwide, his style was instantly recognizable and worthy imo of inclusion with existing blues institutions like Albert King, Buddy Guy, et al. In other words, unlike many fine blues players in the world, he imitated but in doing so made it his own style. That's not so easy to do. He definitely had a gift.

Especially sad that he had turned things around and started getting healthy when he died. I was lucky to see him once, when he toured with Jeff Beck in '89.

His biography is well worth reading. His death was made even more tragic if you know that he finally was living a clean, happy, healthy life at the end.


yes - you beat me to it. Very sad. He seemed really happy in the final months.:(

It's a shame I really didn't know his music until after he died. There has been more than one time in the last 15 years or so I heard some song that took my breath away. Went to find out who in the world could make such heavenly music and it turned out to be SRV.

I never saw SRV live. I did, however, see his brother Jimmy when he was with the Thunderbirds. They were pretty excellent, too.

I love Rude Mood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71nt_HXMc0c)!
Anyone here ever attempt to play any of his songs?

SRV reborn? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX_PuwB0X0A&feature=related)

I never saw SRV live. I did, however, see his brother Jimmy when he was with the Thunderbirds. They were pretty excellent, too.

When he was a kid, Stevie used to sneak into Jimmy's room and play on Jimmy's guitar. It must have sucked to be the older, guitar playing brother of Stevie Ray Vaughn.

If you don't like SRV you have no business listening to rock or blues music. Best friggin blues guitar player I ever heard, and one of the best overall players period.

Uhhh...

I never saw SRV live. I did, however, see his brother Jimmy when he was with the Thunderbirds. They were pretty excellent, too.

Love the T-Birds. Have all of Jimmie's solo records. Really essential stuff. Different world from li'l bro.

At one point Roomful of Blues was like a farm team for the TBirds, bass and keyboard player, maybe drummer, would move from Providence up to the big time... I caught a double bill of them once toward the end of Jimmie's tenure, and members of Roomful swapped in and out for TBirds and then just came out until eventually they were pretty much all there, TBirds+Roomful's horns plus doubles of certain other instruments. A real experience.

Roomful is at least 2 generations turned over from the version I used to see play in the 80s (end of Ronnie Earl, beginning of Kid Bangham...)

Uhhh...

Was that statement over your head? Do you require further clarification?

I think SRV's contributions to blues are significant, especially for bringing the genre to a wider audience. However, let's keep our perspective when we say things like "best guitarist ever" etc. He was on par maybe with Clapton, can hang with Jeff Beck perhaps on a really good day, but by no means is he in front of Jimmy, BB, or (all hail) Robert Johnson.

But yeah, great music, great player, great bands.

You forgot Jimi.

IHe was on par maybe with Clapton, can hang with Jeff Beck perhaps on a really good day, but by no means is he in front of Jimmy, BB, or (all hail) Robert Johnson.


I completely disagree, but pissing contests over who's the 'best' guitarist do miss the point entirely. Different guitarists, different qualities, entirely subjective regardless. They're all great. For me SRV is the most impressive of those listed above (with the possible exception of Beck), but that's for me. For you or any other listener it can certainly vary.

SRV was one of a kind, he left us 40+ years too early.

You forgot Jimi.

LOL, I spelled it wrong. My older brother, who is a genuine, low-down, dragged thru the mud, put away wet blues guitarist refers to SRV and a Jimi wanna-be.

SRV was one of a kind, he left us 40+ years too early.

+1

Consider he was talked up to Columbia by the same dude who 'discovered' Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billie Holliday and Charlie Christian. Pretty damn good company.

There are lots of excellent blues guitarists. He was that, certainly, but moreover, SRV was a blues artist imo, and one good enough to hang with anyone. Like BB and Albert King, I think Stevie's voice and delivery of the whole song as a package is what set him apart in that upper eschelon. He did it the old-fashioned way too, through years of hard work (he was 30 or so when he broke).

Case in point: the minute "Pride & Joy" got significant airplay, people were copying SRV. Lots of people. Easily approaching the numbers who copied Clapton and so forth, eventually. Look at how many magazine covers SRV has gotten, both in his lifetime, and posthumously....that's sales talking.

Idk that you can say that about Duke Robillard, Joe Bonamossa or whoever, as talented as they may be.

SRV is actually not one of my favorites but i have tremendous respect for his talent and his accomplishments. On top of that he seemed like a great guy.

Edit: I loathed his wardrobe...sorry!

Idk that you can say that about Duke Robillard, Joe Bonamossa or whoever, as talented as they may be.

Like Jimmie Vaughan, Duke Robillard was never trying to do what SRV was doing. Different world. Joe B (and Kenny Wayne Shephard) were, on the other hand. I agree that SRV was not just a Jimi-Wannabe.

Gotta check out Lonnie Pitchford, on 6 strings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PStM2AO-NcM) or just one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z59DSdxlDoo&feature=channel_page). He built his own instruments too. That is Blues.

I would not consider SRV the greatest blues player ever but he was great and could hang with anyone and garnered the respect of the very best players on earth... if you have seen the sessions he did with Albert King you can see that King gave him massive praises.

These are awesome btw.

Like King, SRV took the blues and gave it his own unique and instantly recognizable sound... and as a performer he was the total package and he did not just play the blues... they were in his very soul.

He captured that indefinable thing that makes a great player and performer a legend...

I would not consider SRV the greatest blues player ever but he was great and could hang with anyone and garnered the respect of the very best players on earth... if you have seen the sessions he did with Albert King you can see that King gave him massive praises.

These are awesome btw.

Like King, SRV took the blues and gave it his own unique and instantly recognizable sound... and as a performer he was the total package and he did not just play the blues... they were in his very soul.

He captured that indefinable thing that makes a great player and performer a legend...

:thumb:

I loved him once but he couldn't commit so we eventually drifted apart.

[QUOTE=pgoat;8965847]+1

Consider he was talked up to Columbia by the same dude who 'discovered' Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billie Holliday and Charlie Christian. Pretty damn good company.

QUOTE]

Everyone you mentioned is good, except for Springsteen. That guy is a no talent *** clown. He comes to Pittsburgh all the time and I can't stand it.

Couch

I saw him several times. One show in particular, Pittsburgh 1985. He ends the set and tosses his pick onto the floor in front of the mic stand/effects, the guy next to me jumps up and grabs the pick and returns to the rail. SRV comes back out and looks on the floor for the pick, digs through his pockets and can't find a spare. The guy that grabbed the pick gives it back, SRV rips Voodoo Chile, hands it back to the guy, and says "thanks"

+1 edit: I loathed his wardrobe...sorry!

you would have preferred he wear your avatar on stage?

I saw him at the Pacific amphitheater in SoCal about 3 months or so before he died. He wore a white coat and pants...He let the strat rip and even played behind his head...Great show, great talent...

I would not consider SRV the greatest blues player ever but he was great and could hang with anyone and garnered the respect of the very best players on earth... if you have seen the sessions he did with Albert King you can see that King gave him massive praises.

These are awesome btw.


http://imagecache5.art.com/images/-/-/photographic-print/L-21-2183-albert_king_with_stevie_ray_vaughan___in_session-Z00DCP8F.jpg

This is the only album of his I own (WHY? is a good question). I still play it all the time and it's one of my favorites. I'm not even into blues, but this album is a-ma-zing! :thumb::thumb::thumb:

Around 1984 a group of us wandered in to Fitzgerald's (Houston) after a Thu evening rugby practice (still in our kits). SRV and the boys were there, playing to a house of 50 or so folks. They weren't discouraged by the small crowd - they rocked the house. They mingled with the folks during their breaks - they were down to earth good guys.

SRV had a fluidity and balls to his playing that was very unique; combine that with his vocals and he was a real powerhouse performer. Man he was friggin great. I've never seen anyone quite like him.

If you don't like SRV you have no business listening to rock or blues music. Best friggin blues guitar player I ever heard, and one of the best overall players period.

i can't stand SRV.

not because i don't think he was talented - he was.

but because i had a roommate in college that played nothing but SRV albums. all day. every day.

i haven't (intentionally) listened to a SRV recording in over 15 years.

at least i wasn't rooming with the dude who had a Doors fetish.

[QUOTE=pgoat;8965847]+1

Consider he was talked up to Columbia by the same dude who 'discovered' Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billie Holliday and Charlie Christian. Pretty damn good company.

QUOTE]

Everyone you mentioned is good, except for Springsteen. That guy is a no talent *** clown. He comes to Pittsburgh all the time and I can't stand it.

Couch

i knew someone would jump on Bruuuce:lol:
hey you can't please everybody
Not sure what Hammond saw in Springsteen but Columbia wanted to market him as the 'new Dylan' and showcase him as a solo acoustic performer - as usual, record companies way behind the curve, since that whole genre was already well on the way out at that point.

One could get into geeky gtr specifics, but I'll just add that where most people opt for either a clean but boring or anemic sound, or beef things up with the amp or effects, Stevie played clean and huge, and got 99% of it with his hands. The only other guy I have ever heard with that kind of clean tone in blues (You hear jazz artists who do it often) is maybe Albert King.

That is referenced in his biography, and much has been made about his use of huge strings, but It's also just down to his touch. Again, he later went to a wall of amps that sounded good but was overkill imo. In '83 he was still running two small Fender amps and had a huge, pure tone that he exploited beautifully.

Anyone who's ever tried to play a slow blues knows it leaves you more exposed - there is less room to hide your flaws. "Texas Flood" (I think that is the song's name - slow blues in G?) on that El Mocambo tape is just jaw dropping - he repeatedly does these huge, perfectly pitched 2-note bends down low on on the B string that just sustain forever. Big frets and strings help, but that is just really skilled and strong hands and gifted ears imo.