The Mastery of Stevie Ray Vaughan
HE LOOKED LIKE a drunk guy wearing red cowboy boots, leaning up against a post and cradling a guitar that might fall to the ground and smash into pieces at any moment. That was my first impression of Stevie Ray Vaughan, when I glanced at the Soul To Soul album cover at my local music store.
I was a heavy metal kid and an aspiring 15 year old musician from the suburbs of Mission Viejo, California, and I had never heard blues music before. But it was 1990, and Stevie Ray Vaughan had just died. That fact piqued my curiosity enough to make me choose to spend the $10 bill in my pocket on a Stevie Ray Vaughan record, instead of Tesla’s Five Man Acoustical Jam.
Listening to the blues took some getting used to, but I just kept listening to that record and staring at the cover, and wondering if Stevie Ray Vaughan had been drunk during the entire recording. He might have been, but it sure didn’t sound like it. I was familiar with Jimi Hendrix’s music, but I liked Stevie Ray Vaughan better, right away. There was a smoothness to SRV’s Texas blues sound that reminded me of a lazy Sunday afternoon in August. But in all fairness, SRV had a huge advantage over Jimi Hendrix, in that SRV was able to learn from the genius of Jimi Hendrix, whereas Hendrix was forced to essentially create modern electric rock guitar out of thin air.
When SRV really opened up on his guitar solos, it sounded like he was running fast and hard from something. In one interview, SRV explained that he lacked the ability to play with finesse, and that he only knew how to play guitar like he was “breaking out of jail.” I’m not sure if I agree with that, as he could play pretty damn melodically and softly, especially on some of his instrumental arrangements. But despite his complete mastery of blues guitar, SRV always came across as a pretty humble dude who wanted nothing more than to share his music with the world.
In interviews with family members and band mates, SRV has been described as a man possessed while playing, and it certainly looks as if that were the case when reviewing old concert footage:
Of course, I completed my SRV record collection, and continued to be blown away by his recordings both prior and subsequent to Soul To Soul. Perhaps one of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s greatest accomplishments was bridging the gap between popular rock music and the blues for young music fans and musicians who had never before been exposed to the blues. John Mayer has cited Stevie Ray Vaughan as one of his biggest influences.
Because SRV was such an exceptional guitar prodigy, a few things are often overlooked. First, he was a tremendous singer. Even if SRV never picked up a guitar in his life, he could have been the singer and front man of a successful blues band. Singing in a blues band is no easy feat, as I know from personal experience. Trying to emulate past blues masters like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf is rough on the voice, and SRV would complain of suffering from “hamburger throat” after completing a long series of gigs.
Second, SRV had “double trouble” backing him up in his trio — Chris Layton on drums, and Tommy Shannon on bass. This no doubt was one of the things that put him over the top, and put him a cut above much of his competition. Layton and Shannon completely understood that their role was to provide solid support for SRV to do his thing and to shine. Layton’s soft style of drumming is similar to the finesse drumming of fellow Texan and ZZ Top drummer, Frank Beard. Listen to any SRV album, and you won’t hear any bashing or ostentatious drum rolls. Just slow and steady, nice and smooth. Shannon bass is equally right on time, with good walking lines and a deep, clean sound in the studio. Together, Layton and Shannon provided the perfect, mellow chemistry for SRV’s in your face, fast and hard guitar riffs.
Third, SRV was an amazing songwriter. Although he did play quite a few blues standards, he wrote a good portion of the songs on his records, and those songs have themselves become modern blues standards. There are not many instrumentalists who have both the technical proficiency to play like SRV, and who can also write amazing songs. That combination is a rare find.
When I go back and listen to music that I thought was a big deal when I was growing up, only a small collection of records stand the test of time. I don’t believe that SRV made a single bad record. It is an unusual thing for a musician to steer a generation of young people into a new type of music to which they are neither accustomed nor familiar.
Since SRV’s death almost 30 years ago, there have been many prodigious blues guitar players who have tried to carry the torch the best they can. But there is just something missing with those other players — some special “thing” that SRV possessed that no one else has been able to bring back to life.
If it were not for SRV, I would have never fallen in love with the blues, and my universe of music would be much smaller. The Stevie Ray Vaughans of the world just don’t come along often enough.
J.S. Lender is a lifelong musician, and a jazz and blues fanatic.
