The above is a picture of a print by Ron Wood (yes, that Ron Wood) of Stevie Ray Vaughn that we are fortunate enough to own. I love the piece and I love the subject. SRV was unbelievable. Eric Clapton first heard him on the radio while he was driving and said he had to pull over to listen and essentially said to himself "Wow, who is this guy". SRV was that good. He was admired by just about every blues player you have ever heard of.
Try Texas Flood...that's not two guitar players or one player over dubbed that's Stevie Ray. The live session CD with Albert King is very cool. I hafta mention Pride and Joy and Crossfire. His versions of Little Wing and Voodoo Child (slight return) would have made Jimi pull over. If you don't own any SRV, I suggest the In Step CD. After you fall in love with that, buy them all.
About a year before his tragic death, Stevie Ray showed up in Chicago to help his friend Buddy Guy launch his nightclub. On the night of the crash, Buddy actually joined Stevie at Alpine Valley for his closing song. What nobody knew was that it was the last song SRV would ever perform. Buddy, who had known Stevie for a number of years was quoted as saying "Stevie is the best friend I've ever had, the best guitarist I ever heard and the best person anyone will ever want to know. He will be missed a lot." We all got cheated Buddy.
I never saw him live and it's one of the gaping holes on my concert resume. My fault. I had just discovered him at the time of his death. I like scores of others, wish he was still making new music. However, the beauty of recorded music is that Stevie, like others that have passed on, will always be with us. This guy was just plain outta here.
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