News

In honor of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s birthday, the Trail Conservancy in Austin, TX, is holding a celebration today at the SRV Memorial Statue that is free and open to the public. Visit today from 4-6:30PM local time at the base of Stevie’s statue.

For more information about the event, visit TheTrailConservancy.org.

On Saturday April 22, the small city of Cockrell Hill — tucked into Dallas nearby Vaughan’s Oak Cliff neighborhood — unveiled Stevie Ray Vaughan Park to coincide with Earth Day.

The new park includes a stage, a grassy knoll and parking spots for food trucks. Near the manicured lawn, there’s a realistic painted mural depicting photos of the Vaughan brothers through the years.

One of the photos is of Jimmie’s first band, the Swinging Pendulums. A young Stevie is on the stage. Written on the stage below the band are the words, “Cockrell Hill Jubilee.”

Read more at TPR.org.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Park will have its grand opening this Saturday, April 22 from 2-9PM in Cockrell Hill, Texas! Get more details about this free event at CityOfCockrellHill.us.

The new Vaughan Brothers documentary film Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan: Brothers in Blues is now available for streaming on all major platforms in the U.S. and Canada. It tells the story of Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan by those who knew them best: brother Jimmie, Eric Clapton, Nile Rodgers, Jackson Browne, Billy Gibbons and their early band mates. Visit BrothersInBluesDoc.com to choose your platform to watch the film.

The great Stevie Ray Vaughan was born on this day 68 years ago. 

 Watch SRV and Double Trouble play “Pride and Joy” live at Montreux in 1982.

Hundreds of fans, friends and family members turned out to Kiest Park Sunday for the dedication of public artwork memorializing Oak Cliff’s famous blues brothers.

Jimmie Vaughan appeared with special guest Gary Clark, Jr. and performed two songs in front of the memorial. Sunday would’ve been Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 67th birthday.

… “Stevie’s here too,” Vaughan said. “He would be so proud, and my mother and father and my uncles.”

Read more at the Oak Cliff Advocate and The Dallas Morning News.

Related News: 

• Kiest Park’s Artwork Pays Tribute to Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan!– September 27, 2021
• Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Sculpture to be Dedicated on SRV’s Birthday, October 3– September 17, 2021
• Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Return To Oak Cliff – D Magazine – December 4, 2020
• Dallas City Council Approves Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Sculpture – May 25, 2016
• Dallas To Finally Honor Jimmie And Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Dallas Morning News – April 20, 2016
• Vaughan Brothers Artwork In Oak Cliff – D Magazine – October 27, 2015
• Dallas City Council Approves Public Art Project Honoring Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan – The Dallas Morning News – June 4, 2015

A new art project at Kiest Park pays tribute to the musical contributions of Dallas natives and revered blues guitarists Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The artwork – We Are Music and Music is Us – honors the brothers as significant influencers in the music industry and in the history and culture of Dallas.

The City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department and City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture officially welcome the contemporary, metal sculpture at 4 p.m. Sunday, October 3 at Kiest Park, 3080 S. Hampton Road. Jimmie Vaughan and Kirby Warnock will have remarks during a brief presentation. Warnock — documentary film writer, producer and director –­ spearheaded fundraising activities for the art piece.

Almost 100 City of Dallas parks feature diverse public artworks, said park officials. “Parks connect us to outdoor spaces and public art bridges that connection. Art tells stories, starts conversations, and encourages visitors to appreciate diverse visual art forms,” said John D. Jenkins, Director, Dallas Park and Recreation. 

Basque artist Casto Solano created the art to acknowledge the Vaughans’ talents and as an invitation for music fans to reminisce and enjoy their music. We Are Music and Music is Us can serve as a stage or background for small concerts, “linking the material world with the ephemeral ecstasy of music,” according to Solano. “The sculpture creates a place of belonging on which to forge our images together with theirs. A piece that will stand as a homage to two remarkable men,” he added. 

The sculpture is constructed from four COR-TEN or weathering steel-framed screens, formed by ribbons of cut metal. Panels measuring 10’ x 8’ each show imagery of the brothers’ lives and music including their images and lyrics to their most well-known work Tick-Tock. It stands near the trail crosswalk off the park’s main entrance.

“This is a wonderful recognition to these gifted brothers who grew up in Oak Cliff and transformed music worldwide. We are excited to spotlight this harmonious and energetic tribute to the Vaughan brothers in our park system,” Jenkins added.  

The siblings were born and grew up in Oak Cliff near where the sculpture stands. They started playing guitar as children, and by their mid-teens, they were semi-professional musicians. Relocating to Austin in the 1970s, they formed individual bands that influenced the blues revival of the 1980s. Stevie Ray Vaughan died in 1990. 

Warnock, widely known for From Nowhere: The Story of the Vaughan Brothers, established The Vaughan Brothers Art Project to raise money to build and maintain the artwork. Individuals and foundation donations to Vaughanbrosart.com totaled more than $60,000 for the project with major donors including The Cabaniss Family Foundation, Jeffrey Stephen Davis, John Dennis, The Kessler Theater, The North Texas Music Foundation, The Oak Cliff Foundation and Warnock.

Related News: 

• Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Sculpture to be Dedicated on SRV’s Birthday, October 3– September 17, 2021
• Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Return To Oak Cliff – D Magazine – December 4, 2020
• Dallas City Council Approves Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Sculpture – May 25, 2016
• Dallas To Finally Honor Jimmie And Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Dallas Morning News – April 20, 2016
• Vaughan Brothers Artwork In Oak Cliff – D Magazine – October 27, 2015
• Dallas City Council Approves Public Art Project Honoring Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan – The Dallas Morning News – June 4, 2015

The Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan sculpture in Kiest Park in Oak Cliff will be dedicated on what would have been SRV’s 67th birthday, October 3. The City of Dallas commissioned artist Casto Solano to design and build the piece, which was installed in the park last year.

Read more at the Oak Cliff Advocate.

Related News:

• Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Return To Oak Cliff – D Magazine – December 4, 2020
• Dallas City Council Approves Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan Sculpture – May 25, 2016
• Dallas To Finally Honor Jimmie And Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Dallas Morning News – April 20, 2016
• Vaughan Brothers Artwork In Oak Cliff – D Magazine – October 27, 2015
• Dallas City Council Approves Public Art Project Honoring Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan – The Dallas Morning News – June 4, 2015

Far Out Magazine writes, “Stevie Ray Vaughan’s playing contained something indefinable, something which allowed him to play with more than just skill. He played with a tenderness and precision which seemed utterly at odds with one another and yet formed into a cohesive style. His playing was, in a word, sublime.”

Read the full article at FarOutMagazine.co.uk.

Guitar great Denny Freeman, a staple of the Austin music scene, has died aged 76 after a brief cancer battle. Freeman worked with everyone from Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan to Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal over his more than 50 year career, and played piano and organ in addition to electric guitar.

Freeman became a central figure in the burgeoning Austin blues scene that launched both SRV and Jimmie Vaughan’s Fabulous Thunderbirds, among many other acts. 

Read more at Guitar World.

Photo: The Cobras upstairs at Antone’s, 1976 photo by Billy Cross
Joe Sublett, Rodney Craig, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alex Napier, Denny
Courtesy of DennyFreeman.com