Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters backstage at Nick’s Upstairs. Photo by Kirby Warnock
The world lost a great one 30 years ago today when Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash following a performance at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin.
Here is a bootleg recording from that show.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and his older brother, Jimmie Vaughan, grew up near Kiest Park and attended Stockard Middle School and Kimball High School. The brothers played in garage bands here in the ’60s and ’70s. One of Stevie’s first gigs was playing Candy’s Flare at the National Guard Armory in Red Bird.
Stevie dropped out of Kimball, but he kept it real with Oak Cliff even after becoming an international guitar superstar. Here he is performing with all Oak Cliff musicians at a reunion in 1985.
Jimmie Vaughan also continues to show love to his hometown. He’s performed at the Kessler and the Texas Theatre in recent years. Here he is as grand marshal of the Oak Cliff Mardi Gras parade.
We love that so many people use SRV licks to learn the guitar. Check out this 11-year-old playing “Texas Flood.”
SRV declined the offer to tour as part of David Bowie’s band. The stage is only big enough for one star. But they were great together.
Here are a couple of recently uploaded videos from a mid-1980s soundcheck.
