News

In the summer of 1988, Stevie Ray Vaughan had just completed an intensive tour of Europe when Tom Nolan sat down to talk to him in England for a frank discussion about his roots, overcoming addiction and finding redemption.

Read the interview at Guitar Player.

Austin City Limits returns this fall with new episodes, including “Stevie Ray Vaughan: 30 Years On,” an hour-long special premiering October 19 featuring highlights from the legendary bluesman’s signature performances on ACL in 1983 and 1989, two of the most-requested episodes in the history of the program. Stevie Ray made his final performance on ACL on October 10, 1989, and 30 years after his passing, ACL is showcasing both performances in a rare broadcast featuring back-to-back classics including “Texas Flood,” “Voodoo Child” and “Crossfire” from the Austin legend and his band Double Trouble.

Read more at ACLTV.com and check your local listings for air times.

He’d have been remarkable in any era, but Stevie Ray Vaughan arrived just at the right time in the long history of the electric blues.

He made his name with his band Double Trouble in the Austin, Texas music scene, and by the turn of the 80s had bridged the gap back to the 60s blues explosion like no other.

Read more at Guitar.com.

The GRAMMY Museum has opened the digital exhibit Pride & Joy: The Texas Blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan at their official website. Visit GRAMMYMuseum.org to see SRV’s guitars, stage clothes, gear, and more.

The SRV exhibit has previously appeared at the GRAMMY Museum L.A. Live, the Woody Guthrie Center, the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and The Bullock Texas State History Museum.

The Oakland Press has taken a look back at Stevie Ray Vaughan’s and Jeff Beck’s Fire Meets The Fury Tour at Detroit’s Cobo Arena on November 3, 1989. Photographer Ken Settle writes:

“Just when you thought that back and forth between artist and audience couldn’t get any stronger, Stevie, who was looking and playing like a guy who had been transported to another dimension, grabbed a whole fistful of notes, and bent them all up about two steps, the light man hit the neck of his Stratocaster with an intense bright spotlight right at that moment, and the audience just roared. That was one of the most powerful musical moments of my career, for certain.”

Read more and view photos at The Oakland Press.

In 1988 a candid Stevie Ray Vaughan sat down with Guitarist magazine for his first and only cover feature during his lifetime. Read it now at MusicRadar.

Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s former bandmates and more recall the development of one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Read more at Guitar World.

The first time that Buddy Guy, quite possibly the greatest living blues guitarist, heard Stevie Ray Vaughan play, he couldn’t believe it. “He was hitting them notes and made me feel like I should go in the audience and watch so I could learn something,” says Guy in Alan Paul and Andy Aledort’s illuminating oral history, Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Read more at The New York Times.

For the first time publicly, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s longtime bass player Tommy Shannon is sharing a portion of his personal photobook with the Houston Chronicle in an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the late guitarist – including some gems like the time Vaughan was hanging with Robert Plant backstage.

View the photos and read more at Chron.com.

RIP 1954-1990