Stevie Ray Vaughan: Dallas Guitar God

Today is the birthday of Stevie Ray Vaughan. He would be 72 today.

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born in Dallas, Texas on October 3, 1954. He grew up in Oak Cliff on the south side of Dallas, where his older brother Jimmie was already playing guitar in the clubs. Stevie started playing at seven and never stopped improving. By his mid-teens he was sitting in at North Austin clubs. He moved to Austin at seventeen, played every bar on Sixth Street, and built a reputation that spread beyond Texas through word of mouth alone.

The Night at Montreux That Changed Everything

David Bowie brought Vaughan to the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival. A hostile audience quieted down the moment Stevie Ray started playing. Bowie hired him for the Let’s Dance album. Then Vaughan formed Double Trouble and released Texas Flood on Epic Records in 1983 — an album that resurrected blues guitar as a commercial force. He played with .013 strings tuned down a half-step, hitting notes with a weight that left other guitarists wondering what they were missing. He died August 27, 1990, in a helicopter crash at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin, at thirty-five. Find brother Jimmie’s items on Texas Music Map and learn more at the Texas State Historical Association.