

Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He was the younger brother of guitarist Jimmie Vaughan.
Born and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his brother Jimmie. In 1972, he dropped out of high school and moved to Austin, where he began to gain a following after playing gigs on the local club circuit. Vaughan joined forces with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums as Double Trouble in 1978. The band established itself in the Austin music scene and soon became one of the most popular acts in Texas. They performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1982, where David Bowie saw Vaughan play. Bowie contacted him for a studio gig in December where he played blues guitar on the album Let's Dance (1983). John Hammond heard a demo album that Vaughan and Double Trouble had recorded and interested major label Epic Records in signing them to a record deal in March 1983. Within months, they achieved mainstream success for the critically acclaimed debut album Texas Flood. With a series of successful network television appearances and extensive concert tours, Vaughan became the leading figure in the blues revival of the 1980s.
Vaughan struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction for most of his life. He also struggled with the personal and professional pressures of fame and his marriage to Lenora "Lenny" Bailey. He successfully completed rehabilitation and began touring again with Double Trouble in November 1986. His fourth and final studio album In Step reached number 33 in the United States in 1989; it was one of Vaughan's most critically and commercially successful releases and included his only number-one hit, "Crossfire". He became one of the world's most popular blues performers, and he headlined Madison Square Garden in 1989 and the Beale Street Music Festival in 1990.
On August 27, 1990, Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, after performing with Double Trouble at Alpine Valley Music Theatre. An investigation concluded that the cause of the accident was pilot error. Vaughan's music continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases and has sold over 15 million albums in the United States alone. Rolling Stone has twice ranked him among the top twenty guitar players of all time. Vaughan was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, along with Double Trouble bandmates Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, and Reese Wynans.
Close your eyes, "see" a black guy playing, and let us know if it makes a difference. If it doesn't, work on that bigotry a little bit, OK?
and like Doc Brown in Back to the Future, his reply would have been "chord progressions? where we're going, we don't need chords"
There are only a few chord progressions if you're playing blues music; the most common being a I-IV-V. Someone should've told you that.
It's not that Stevie "couldn't play for shit" it was the HYPE which surrounded the guy at the time. If you were there then you may recall the absurdity of it. The one time I did see Stevie his warmup (Roy Buchanan) blew him away. Alas, since the brilliant Roy resembled your uncle the English teacher, no hype surrounded him.
I like to think I don't let "hype" or the lack of it color my opinion of an artist. Who cares? I like what I like.
I lived in the DC area for many years - saw some incredible guitarists - SRV and his brother, Buchanan, Jeff Beck, Danny Gatton, Robert Cray, Chris Spedding, Link Ray, Robert Fripp, Todd Rundgren (my personal favorite guitarist), Dave Alvin, Richard Thompson, David Hidalgo & Cesar Rosas, Johnny Ramone - all playing essentially the same instrument yet they all had very unique and individual styles.
You can never escape DEVO, you can only try to contain them!
I hear what both of you are saying, and I also agree with what both of you are saying.
See? It cán actually be that easy :-D
To elaborate: I am definitely more of a fan of Jimi's unending accents, metrics, feeling for the rhythm, his genius mind that adds notes where noone would think of going looking for them, and his fantastic voice (and so much more).
That being said, I know little to nothing about SRV (I'm ehm one of them damn mid-'80s kids) but this guy can PLAY. Very interesting variations to repeating licks, great use of accents and I love guys that know to sometimes NOT play a note to make their playing more impactful.
I do not care much for the way he cuts off his notes and bends so quickly, but then we're talking about style and personal flavour, which is something we are supposed to be discussing, right?
Someone should have told Stevie that there really is more than one chord progression.
Wow. Can't tell if this is simple ignorance (Wikipedia:Twelve-bar blues), or just being flippant. Good lord.
RIP
Yea, I was living in Houston at the time and when the dj broke the news his voice cracked with sorrow, hell he might have been crying in the studio. It was a mighty sad day in Texas that day.
Second SRV song I've heard for the first time on RP today that I never got to rate. 20 points total.
Lucky dog indeed! My wife (who is a tad older than I am) has a lot of similar stories of seeing bands in their early years, most famously was AC/DC who opened for Ted Nugent and were nearly booed off the stage....too soon I guess for the crowd to appreciate. Anyways, I'm this close to making this track a 10 since it's about my wife....ok...it's a 10 now...Long Live RP!!