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My first exposure to Stevie Ray Vaughan came in the form of an article that I read in Guitar World magazine at the end of summer in 1983. The article detailed the long years of playing in Texas clubs, the trip to the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982, where he wowed the likes of Jackson Browne and David Bowie, the recording of his first album, Texas Flood, and the recording of David Bowie's Let's Dance album. I could remember hearing the title cut off Bowie's album and being impressed with the guitar solo, so I decided to pick up Texas Flood, doing so on my first week as a freshman at N. C. State University. I can truly say that hearing the album for the first time is the one thing I remember from that first week. I immediately felt the raw emotion and honesty in every cut that really blew me away. Stevie's passion for his music was unbridled, as was that of Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton, the bassist and drummer of the band, known collectively as Double Trouble. From that moment on, I was a die-hard fan of the man and the music, buying every magazine that I could find with an article, no matter how small, on SRV. I took the album home for my brother to listen to that weekend, and he became a huge fan as well.
I remember arguing with my father about Stevie's talent after my dad caught the first Austin City Limits show, which also featured the Fabulous Thunderbirds with Stevie's older brother Jimmie on guitar. Dad stated that Jimmie was the talented one, and that Stevie was just a bunch of noise. He was turned off by "Voodoo Chile(Slight Return)", the Hendrix song that Stevie covered. I defended Stevie, of course, but Dad had his mind made up. Later, I was confronted by a Hendrix fan in my dorm for the same song when Stevie released it on Couldn't Stand The Weather. "Look what your man has done to Jimi's song," he fumed. He came around to see it as the tribute it was, but in many ways, the song seems to be identified more with Stevie now than Jimi. I was again blown away by the album, and "Cold Shot" has become one of my favorite songs by Stevie. |
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