Jump to content

The Stevie Ray Vaughan Thread


Hornius Emeritus

Recommended Posts

First off, it hurts my heart that there is not already a SRV thread on SurlyHorns.  I has disappoint.

Second, Stevie's childhood home is for sale in Dallas:

https://oakcliff.advocatemag.com/2018/07/stevie-ray-vaughans-childhood-home-hits-market-at-160000/

 

Third, this is the best SRV video currently on YouTube and I will fight anybody who doesn't agree:
 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stevie did less pretty damn well too. Especially when he was dueting with guitar's elder statesmen, like Albert King, or when he felt he wasn't the feature, like in ensemble jams. Dude would throttle way back. Classiest guy you'll ever come across.

But to you greater point, I never felt like Stevie's music was notey or excessive, especially his later work like In Step. That stuff was just straight lean meat, not an ounce of fat.

(I'm not trying to convince you otherwise, but I've been hitting the bar a bit and that makes my very opinion.)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, BoomMF said:

Stevie did less pretty damn well too. Especially when he was dueting with guitar's elder statesmen, like Albert King, or when he felt he wasn't the feature, like in ensemble jams. Dude would throttle way back. Classiest guy you'll ever come across.

But to you greater point, I never felt like Stevie's music was notey or excessive, especially his later work like In Step. That stuff was just straight lean meat, not an ounce of fat.

(I'm not trying to convince you otherwise, but I've been hitting the bar a bit and that makes my very opinion.)

Part of my problem is that 25+ years later, I'm a bit burned out on Stevie's music. His catalogue got a short shrift due to his death.Would have been great to hear where he would have gone with it.

Please don't get me wrong, I love his music.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of my problem is that 25+ years later, I'm a bit burned out on Stevie's music. His catalogue got a short shrift due to his death.Would have been great to hear where he would have gone with it.
Please don't get me wrong, I love his music.


I’ve discussed this at length,many many times, with people involved in the blues scene in the late 60’s to late 70’s. Real blues players. Played with everyone.

Jimmy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I'm drunk...
I wanted to start a tell me a about thread for him. I watched the concert of his from the old concert thread. I know nothing other than my family enjoyed the music and he is from oak Cliff. Please tell me how badass he was

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I'm drunk...
I wanted to start a tell me a about thread for him. I watched the concert of his from the old concert thread. I know nothing other than my family enjoyed the music and he is from oak Cliff. Please tell me how badass he was

Go listen to some of his playing. Then go listen to any or every other blues guitarist play. No one before or after could duplicate his chops, intensity, phrasing, or tone. Go look at some of the tribute stuff where a bunch of famous dudes play his shit - none of them can do it right.

He really was one of one. It was like he was an open channel from whatever spirit he drew from. Just insanely good.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a story I read or heard about him, don’t recall if it was a published story, a message board post, or part of a documentary, that he refused to record in a studio once because he heard a hum from the equipment that nobody else could hear.  Eventually they brought in some equipment to detect it since nobody else heard it, and located it but at a frequency or volume that nobody should have been able to hear. But srv heard it, or otherwise felt it. 

Just a uniquely special artist. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For so much of my life, Hendrix was considered, almost unanimously, the GOAT. It doesn't feel like it's still that way.

Stevie was better.



I go back and forth, but I usually end up with Stevie 1A and Jimi 1B.

Jimi had a lot of recorded and live material that was able to be put out after he died. We didn’t have that luxury as much with Stevie.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To clarify, even though I wasn’t around for Jimi it seems like he definitely broke more new ground than probably anyone before him and maybe since.

 

And I love Jimi, but I think Stevie was the better player.

 

Would agree with all you said (and I wasn’t around for either of them, I’m 29). I got into Hendrix on my own, but my dad had a few SRV CDs that I listened to all the time, specifically In Step.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On a scale of 1 to 10, Jimmie is a 6, Jimi is a 9.9, and SRV is a 17.

SRV was an absolute magician.  Speed, accuracy, creativity, and most of all touch.  Listen to "Lenny" or "Riviera Paradise" live - no one else had that command of every tone and emotion a guitar can hit.  He was hands down the greatest blues player of all time.  

RIP, Stevie Ray.  You are missed.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/19/2018 at 5:25 PM, Deej said:

Unpopular opinions you have...

I prefer Jimmie. 

(Don't get me wrong, I love Stevie.)

I agree with Deej on this.

Stevie had a gift; music flowed through him from the cosmos to his fingers and he was brilliant like nobody else. He was bluesman who came to popularity during the 80's guitar virtuoso era, kickstarted by EVH IMO, and he stood out among those giants and when you listen to those records you can still hear the 80's. I have a fairly decent collection of blues albums and 45s spanning from the 30s to current, a lot of the late 50's Chicago stuff and mid-60's revival stuff, and I do a blues happy hour DJ set once a month.  I can't play SRV records during those sets because they sound so different from everything else in that timeless collection. Jimmy's stuff fits in well, he also has a more conversational and often playful style.

Stevie probably inspired as many kids to pick up the guitar as anybody else in history save maybe Elvis and the Beatles, and turned who knows how many onto the blues through his records and performances, so I will always solute him for that.

He's surely one of the Top 10 blues guitarists ever, but I can think of 10 others who's records I would rather listen to today; probably 20 if I think about it.

 

That like my, and Deej's, opinion man.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/19/2018 at 3:23 PM, Hornius Emeritus said:

First off, it hurts my heart that there is not already a SRV thread on SurlyHorns.  I has disappoint.

Second, Stevie's childhood home is for sale in Dallas:

https://oakcliff.advocatemag.com/2018/07/stevie-ray-vaughans-childhood-home-hits-market-at-160000/

 

Third, this is the best SRV video currently on YouTube and I will fight anybody who doesn't agree:
 


 

If he only hadn't tempted fate by walking under that ladder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/26/2018 at 1:46 PM, AnotherUTFan said:

I agree with Deej on this.

Stevie had a gift; music flowed through him from the cosmos to his fingers and he was brilliant like nobody else. He was bluesman who came to popularity during the 80's guitar virtuoso era, kickstarted by EVH IMO, and he stood out among those giants and when you listen to those records you can still hear the 80's. I have a fairly decent collection of blues albums and 45s spanning from the 30s to current, a lot of the late 50's Chicago stuff and mid-60's revival stuff, and I do a blues happy hour DJ set once a month.  I can't play SRV records during those sets because they sound so different from everything else in that timeless collection. Jimmy's stuff fits in well, he also has a more conversational and often playful style.

Stevie probably inspired as many kids to pick up the guitar as anybody else in history save maybe Elvis and the Beatles, and turned who knows how many onto the blues through his records and performances, so I will always solute him for that.

He's surely one of the Top 10 blues guitarists ever, but I can think of 10 others who's records I would rather listen to today; probably 20 if I think about it.

 

That like my, and Deej's, opinion man.

So let me get this straight, you are saying these are too 80's and not bluesy enough to play at a blues dj set?

 

Edited by tbone_
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a commercially viable product, yes. SRV took was done and turned it on its head, revitalizing the genre in the process.

 

Blues was cool again. Blues was mainstream. Blues made its way into Top40 Pop songs. Unheard of things in the decades prior. The closest we had before that was British Invasion type stuff. Blues inspired, but a wholly different genre. SRV was dropping blues licks, straight genuine blues, into radio-friendly Bowie tracks about dancing meant for moms!

 

Just thinking back on the 80s and MTV: I recall interviews and shows with SRV. Don't recall any other blues artist getting ANY stong run, much less exposure like him. He did an Unplugged episode, the only one by a straight bluesman that I can recall. (Did Robert Cray get an Unplugged? I recall his Strong Persuader getting a lot of crossover juice and he might have swung an episode. That was already on the backside of the decade, regardless.) MTV played SRV videos regularly. Did any other blues artist get in the regular rotation? I don't recall any. Crossover chameleons like Clapton got play since, but it wasn't for his blues catalogue. Think about that - Blues was as strong as it's ever been, and the only act to really crack into MTV was SRV and Double Trouble. He was a giant. And the gap between him and number 2 was huge.

 

It hasn't been as cool since. Blues, as a genre, is living in a shadow, trying to recreate a moment in time when a dude from Dallas made everyone care again.

 

Or maybe the argument is SRV never revitalized the blues. All anyone ever cared about was SRV.

 

I can see old school bluesmen taking exception to that...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



As a commercially viable product, yes. SRV took was done and turned it on its head, revitalizing the genre in the process.
 
Blues was cool again. Blues was mainstream. Blues made its way into Top40 Pop songs. Unheard of things in the decades prior. The closest we had before that was British Invasion type stuff. Blues inspired, but a wholly different genre. SRV was dropping blues licks, straight genuine blues, into radio-friendly Bowie tracks about dancing meant for moms!
 
Just thinking back on the 80s and MTV: I recall interviews and shows with SRV. Don't recall any other blues artist getting ANY stong run, much less exposure like him. He did an Unplugged episode, the only one by a straight bluesman that I can recall. (Did Robert Cray get an Unplugged? I recall his Strong Persuader getting a lot of crossover juice and he might have swung an episode. That was already on the backside of the decade, regardless.) MTV played SRV videos regularly. Did any other blues artist get in the regular rotation? I don't recall any. Crossover chameleons like Clapton got play since, but it wasn't for his blues catalogue. Think about that - Blues was as strong as it's ever been, and the only act to really crack into MTV was SRV and Double Trouble. He was a giant. And the gap between him and number 2 was huge.
 
It hasn't been as cool since. Blues, as a genre, is living in a shadow, trying to recreate a moment in time when a dude from Dallas made everyone care again.
 
Or maybe the argument is SRV never revitalized the blues. All anyone ever cared about was SRV.
 
I can see old school bluesmen taking exception to that...
 
 




Stevie probably inspired as many kids to pick up the guitar as anybody else in history save maybe Elvis and the Beatles, and turned who knows how many onto the blues through his records and performances, so I will always solute him for that.
He's surely one of the Top 10 blues guitarists ever, but I can think of 10 others who's records I would rather listen to today; probably 20 if I think about it.
 


I hate having to quote myself.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...