Here's to good friends....
277. Stevie Ray Vaughan "Life By The Drop"
Ever since Jimi Hendrix, rock fans and critics have driven themselves crazy looking for the next guitar god of his calibre. This does a disservice to the musicians given the appointment because you can't invent the wheel twice, and forcing young musicians to try keeps them from discovering their own musical selves a lot of the time.
Thankfully, the best of them manage to stick around long enough to shake the label and create some great music. During the 1980's the designated heir to Jimi's throne was a young Texan named Stevie Ray Vaughan. He definitely delivered on the pyrotechnic solos and fretboard acrobatics, albeit in a more roots-rock oriented vein than Hendrix's cosmic explorations. Strangely though, it's this simple acoustic number that was always my favorite from Stevie Ray. He delivers this tale of a bittersweet reunion with some beautifully spare picking and instead of over-emoting he delivers the lyrics in a subtle voice tinged ever-so-gently with regret and sorrow. He's managed to go beyond imitation and do what few young musicians have managed: to make the blues his own.
(Vaughan like Hendrix before him, sadly died way too young, perishing in a 1990 helicopter crash at 35. RIP.)
Ever since Jimi Hendrix, rock fans and critics have driven themselves crazy looking for the next guitar god of his calibre. This does a disservice to the musicians given the appointment because you can't invent the wheel twice, and forcing young musicians to try keeps them from discovering their own musical selves a lot of the time.
Thankfully, the best of them manage to stick around long enough to shake the label and create some great music. During the 1980's the designated heir to Jimi's throne was a young Texan named Stevie Ray Vaughan. He definitely delivered on the pyrotechnic solos and fretboard acrobatics, albeit in a more roots-rock oriented vein than Hendrix's cosmic explorations. Strangely though, it's this simple acoustic number that was always my favorite from Stevie Ray. He delivers this tale of a bittersweet reunion with some beautifully spare picking and instead of over-emoting he delivers the lyrics in a subtle voice tinged ever-so-gently with regret and sorrow. He's managed to go beyond imitation and do what few young musicians have managed: to make the blues his own.
(Vaughan like Hendrix before him, sadly died way too young, perishing in a 1990 helicopter crash at 35. RIP.)
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