| Jimmy Vaughan |
Blues
Jimmie Vaughan is far more than just one of the greatest and most
respected guitarists in the world of popular music. As Guitar Player
magazine notes, "He is a virtual deity--a living legend." After all,
Vaughan provides a vital link between contemporary music and its proud
heritage, as well as being a longtime avatar of retro cool. Since releasing
his first solo album in 1994, he has set the standard for quality modern
roots music.Throughout his career, Vaughan has earned the esteem of his
legendary guitar-playing heroes and superstar peers along with successive
generations of young players. His musical ethos and personal style have had
an impact on contemporary culture, from spearheading the current blues
revival with The Fabulous Thunderbirds to his longtime, innate fashion
sense of slicked-back hair and sharp vintage threads (now seen throughout
the pages of contemporary fashion journals) to becoming a premier designer
of classic custom cars. But for Jimmie Vaughan, none of it is part of a
crusade or a career plan. It's just his natural way of living his life and
pursuing the interests that have captivated Vaughan since his youth.
Now, with his third solo release and Artemis Records debut, Do You
Get The Blues?, Vaughan has fashioned his most compelling and appealing
musical statement yet, creating a rich and variegated masterpiece of 21st
Century rhythm and blues. From the first notes of the opening instrumental,
"Dirty Girl," it's clear that Vaughan has created a contemporary classic.
Driven by Vaughan's lyrical guitar work, the skin-tight drumming of George
Rains and the verdant Hammond B-3 work of the song's writer, Bill Willis
(whose long career includes work on the seminal R&B and blues sides issued
by King Records as well as stints with Freddie King and Lavern Baker), the
song speaks volumes without a single word, and sets a tone of distinctive
and emotion-laden musical articulation that continues throughout the disc.
Do You Get The Blues? travels through a virtual galaxy of musical
moods and modes across its 11 vibrant selections. Highlights include a rare
Jimmie Vaughan acoustic slide track--a tribute to his friend and mentor
Muddy Waters--and harp by blues legend James Cotton on "The Deep End," a
fusion of vintage R&B and jazz on "Don't Let The Sun Set," the sexy and
seductive mood of "Slow Dance," the syncopated soul of "Let Me In," and a
classic Texas blues shuffle with "Robbin' Me Blind." Jimmie offers a
glimpse of the continuing Vaughan legacy on "Without You," co-written by
his son, rising Austin musician Tyrone Vaughan, who plays guitar with
Jimmie on the track. The album also Texas singing legend Lou Ann Barton, a
founding member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Jimmie and Lou Ann's potent
vocal chemistry shines on the fiery "Out Of The Shadows" and the searing
"Power of Love." The two also join forces with the Double Trouble rhythm
section of Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton on the classic shouter, "In The
Middle of the Night." By the time the album lands on "Planet Bongo," the
imaginative mood piece that caps the disc, it's clear that Do You Get The
Blues? is a tour de force that draws from Jimmie Vaughan's vast reservoir
of musical traditions to create a modern classic.
"I wanted to make a romantic blues album," explains Vaughan. "I was
listening to a lot of Sarah Vaughan and a lot of jazz. So I wanted to put
my dirty blues guitar and the romantic feelings and the ins and outs of
love together on one album. It's got a lot of gospel stylings, it's got
blues, it's got R&B. I don't consciously think, okay, we need to put some
of this in here; I like that beat, that's cool. I don't plan it out or try
to decipher what it is. I just try to create what I feel."
Vaughan's musical abilities and sense of style were obvious from an
early age. Growing up in Oak Cliff, just south of downtown Dallas, TX., he
was weaned on classic Top 40 radio (which was invented in his hometown),
vintage blues, early rock'n'roll and the deepest rhythm and blues and
coolest jazz of the day, thanks to the sounds he heard on Dallas' AM radio
powerhouse KNOX and border radio stations like XERB, where personalities
like the legendary Wolfman Jack sparked a youth revolution. "I never got
over that stuff, and I never will. That's the kind of music I like," he
explains.
When he was sidelined by a football injury at the age of 13, a
family friend gave Vaughan a guitar to occupy him during his recuperation.
From the moment Jimmie's fingers touched the fretboard, it was obvious that
he was a natural talent. "It was like he played it all his life," his
mother Martha Vaughan later noted. He also began tutoring his younger
brother Stevie, who would cite Jimmie as his biggest inspiration and
influence throughout his own career.
At age 15, Vaughan started his first band, The Swinging Pendulums,
and was soon playing the rough and tumble Dallas nightclub scene many
nights a week. By the time he hit 16, Jimmie joined The Chessman, who
became the area's top musical attraction, eventually opening concerts in
Dallas for Jimi Hendrix. After hearing Muddy Waters and Freddie King play
in Dallas, Vaughan began to delve deep into the blues, melding his many
influences into a style that was clean, economical and highly articulate,
concentrating on rhythmic accents and lead work that relies on the power of
his less is more approach.
In 1969, Vaughan helped found Texas Storm, a group that eschewed
Top 40 covers for blues and soul with a Texas accent. The band eventually
migrated to Austin, where they won over the college crowd and the Black and
Chicano communities on the Capital City's East Side. Vaughan also helped
jump start his brother Stevie's career when the younger Vaughan joined
Texas Storm on bass.
Determined to create an ideal vehicle for blues music that was both
modern in its impact and appeal yet true to the tradition, Vaughan founded
The Fabulous Thunderbirds with Kim Wilson in the mid 1970s. When Antone's
nightclub opened in Austin in August of 1975, the Thunderbirds became the
house band, sharing the stage and jamming with such blues greats as Waters,
Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Albert King and a host of others, all of whom
recognized Vaughan as the man who would keep the music they developed alive
for future generations.
As Jimmie recalls, "One time when we were playing Antone's, opening
for Muddy, I thought, okay, I'm going to do this Muddy Waters-style slide
thing and see if I can get a reaction from him. And the next night I did it
again. And he came out behind me and grabbed me around the neck, and said
he liked it. And he told me, 'When I'm gone, I want you to do that, and
show everybody that's what I did. I want you to do it for me.'"
Vaughan recorded eight albums with The Fabulous Thuderbirds: Girls
Go Wild on Tacoma/Chrysalis; What's The Word, Butt Rockin' and T-Bird
Rhythm on Chrysalis; and Tuff Enuff (certified platinum), Hot Number,
Powerful Stuff and Wrap It Up on Epic. On the strength of such hits as
"Tuff Enuff," two Grammy Awards and years of worldwide touring, The
Fabulous Thunderbirds brought the blues back into the pop charts and the
contemporary musical lexicon, sparking a blues revival that continues
unabated today. Prior to leaving the group in 1990, Jimmie had joined up
with his brother Stevie to record Family Style, an album that reflected
their mutually deep musical roots and maturing modern artistic
sophistication.
Then in August, 1990, just a few weeks prior to the album's
release, Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin. The
tragedy devastated Jimmie, who retreated from touring and recording, though
he continued to play guitar every day, as he has throughout his life.
Meanwhile, the success of Family Style further enhanced Jimmie's reputation
as a distinctive musical stylist.
Eventually, Vaughan's friend Eric Clapton invited him to open a
series of 16 special concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall. After the warm
reception for his solo debut at the Clapton shows in early 1993, Jimmie
started recording his first solo album.
The resulting disc, Strange Pleasures, was produced by Nile Rodgers
(who worked with the Vaughan brothers on Family Style), featured 11 songs
written or co-written by Jimmie, and was dedicated to Stevie Ray and the
recently-deceased Albert Collins. It debuted at Number One on the Billboard
Heatseeker Chart, won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and
garnered reams of critical acclaim as Vaughan also stepped out on tour as a
solo artist and bandleader. His next album, 1998's Out There, solidified
Vaughan's status as a solo artist, thanks to a Grammy nomination for Best
Rock Instrumental Performance (for the song "Ironic Twist"). As The Boston
Phoenix noted in a four-star rave review, Out There featured "his best
playing ever, bringing rich-toned exuberance to the familiar trappings of
rippling blues and shuffle beats, soul grooves, and vocal arrangements that
tap the celestial richness of the glory days of doo-wop."
As Jimmie Vaughan emerged as an artist in his own right, his
reputation as a master musician became even more apparent, thanks to the
admiration of blues legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy, such guitar
superstars as Eric Clapton and Z.Z. Top's Billy Gibbons, and rising talents
like Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. As Clapton notes, "The first time
I heard Jimmie Vaughan, I was impressed with the raw power of his sound.
His style is unique, and if I've learned anything from him, it's to keep it
simple."
Likewise, Buddy Guy once proclaimed: "He's unbeatable when it comes
to the blues. He just plays it like it's supposed to be played." Even
Stevie Ray Vaughan acknowledged that when people would compare his playing
to that of his brother, there was really no contest. "I play probably 80
percent of what I can play. Jimmie plays one percent of what he knows. He
can play anything."
Jimmie Vaughan is more modest in assessing his abilities, though
very clear when it comes to his approach. "I try to speak with my guitar in
sentences," he explains. "The people that I enjoy and the music that I
enjoy are not about just a bunch of licks strung together. If you just play
a bunch of guitar licks that aren't connected, it's like throwing a lot of
words into a bowl. It doesn't make any sense. It's just words.
"When I listen to Gene Ammons, the great saxophone player, I get
the feeling he's telling you a story. That's how I'd like to play guitar
someday, when I grow up. That's the goal. That's what I enjoy. That's what
makes me get chill bumps--when you listen to music where the phrasing comes
out and it speaks. That's the conclusion I've come to after 37 years of
playing."
Jimmie Vaughan's style as a player, songwriter and bandleader can
be thought of as an amalgamation of so many influences. Known for his
deceptively simple yet complex attack, his clean, uncluttered style
capitalizes on conveying the emotion and message within the music, He
utilizes raw emotion, simplicity, and an elegance that is powerful and
accessible, yet communicates exactly what he feels inside. It's an approach
that has earned him the respect of many of the greats of contemporary
music, and guest appearances on such albums as B.B. King and Eric Clapton's
Riding With The King, Bob Dylan's Under The Red Sky, Willie Nelson's Milk
Cow Blues, Carlos Santana's Havana Moon and Don Henley's Inside Job.
And in the same fashion that Vaughan revitalizes the classic blues
and soul that informs his music, he has also become one of the foremost
designers of classic custom cars. "I don't play golf. So cars are my
hobby," he says with a chuckle. "I was into cars as soon as I was old
enough to walk. I built lots of models when I was a teenager. It's not like
transportation. It's art you can drive to the store." His first custom
restored hot rod is a 1951 Chevy Fleetline that's become a well-known sight
on the streets of Austin, TX over the years. He then augmented his
collection with a 1963 Buick Riviera, and a 1961 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
that took First Place at the 1999 Sacramento Autorama and Second Place at
the 50th Annual Grand National Roadster show, and is currently on display
at the Peterson Car Museum in Los Angeles. Vaughan is credited by his pal
Eric Clapton with inspiring him to begin collecting and restoring classic
roadsters as well.
Yet for all his accomplishments and the admiration he has earned,
Jimmie Vaughan remains modest when it comes to his life and work. "I'm just
trying to have fun like everyone else," he concludes. "I've been playing
since I was 13. I play every day. I've never stopped. I can't imagine that
I could exist without it."
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