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| Official Press Release | Originally Published October 5, 2000 |
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BY STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE ARRIVES NOVEMBER 21st ON EPIC/LEGACY from 1989 episode of Public Television's "Austin City Limits" Bountiful 72-page booklet includes critical essays introduced by former Governor of Texas Ann Richards, lifeline\chronology, extensive track annotations and personnel, discography, chart figures, Grammy awards, and homages by more than 30 fellow musicians Box set follows 1999's restoration of first four studio LPs, and this year's 'Blues At Sunrise' collection "To me, he's one of the greatest blues singers there ever was. I'm very sad because I wish he were here. But his music will never die. He's one of the greatest blues musicians that ever picked up a guitar." - John Lee Hooker "I think for a long time coming there are going to be a lot of frustrated guitar players trying to pick up on Stevie's stuff." - Robert Cray Drawn from studio sessions, live performances, and rare tv and radio broadcasts, the new 4-disc box set from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, SRV, covers the years 1977 to 1990, chronicling everything from the band's early sessions up through their penultimate performance at Alpine Valley. The members of Stevie Ray Vaughan's band, Double Trouble, consisted of Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums), later joined by Reese Wynans (keyboards) in 1985. In addition to three audio CDs, this Texas-sized tribute also includes a DVD (digital video disc) which features five never-before-released performances from public television's "Austin City Limits" from 1989, taped one week after Vaughan's 35th birthday, and less than a year before the gifted young guitarist's life was taken away. These performances were captured during the regular taping, but due to time constraints, were never aired. SRV is a monumental, career-encompassing project that begins with a previously unreleased track from 1977 of Vaughan playing lead guitar and singing lead with Paul Ray and the Cobras ("Thunderbird"). The four discs cover virtually every year of his career (in depth, with multiple tracks) right up to his next-to-last concert on August 25, 1990, at the Alpine Valley festival in East Troy, Wisconsin ("Things (That) I Used To Do," "Let Me Love You Baby," "Leave My Girl Alone"). On August 27th, at 1:00 a.m., the helicopter that was carrying Vaughan from the festival back to Chicago crashed within seconds after takeoff. SRV also boasts a richly-designed 72-page booklet, whose contents might serve as a blueprint for future tribute packages to artists of comparable stature. In addition to lengthy personal display quotes from Vaughan and the members of Double Trouble (bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton), there are quotes from 30 fellow musicians including (in alphabetical order, not in order of appearance): Lou Ann Barton, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Doyle Bramhall, Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, W.C. Clark, Robert Cray, Dr. John, Joe Ely, Billy F. Gibbons, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Mick Jagger, Eric Johnson, B.B. King, Al Kooper, Jonny Lang, Lonnie Mack, Bonnie Raitt, Joey Ramone, Otis Rush, Doug Sahm, Carlos Santana, Joe Satriani, Charlie Sexton, Will Sexton, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Angela Strehli and Steve Vai. The extensively-annotated booklet includes:
A rock and roll icon who lived and breathed for his audiences every night, SRV "Just roared like a lion when he played guitar," recalls Joe Satriani of their first meeting at a Pier concert in New York in 1988. "As soon as he hit the stage, he was reaching for the magic moment, right from the beginning; he was just a screamer all the time." With that in mind, this box set contains a wealth of live performances from every stage of Vaughan's career. SRV and Double Trouble are heard in myriad settings, from clubs like Fitzgerald's in Houston (1981) and Toronto's El Mocambo (1982), to the Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland (1982) and Mardi Gras in New Orleans (1987); from Carnegie Hall (1984), Philadelphia's Mann Music Center (1987) and Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque (1989) to MTV's "Unplugged" sessions in New York (1990), and the fateful final concerts in East Troy in 1990. If blues was the foundation of Stevie Ray Vaughan's life, then SRV offers ample testimony of his musical forefathers. In the course of its four discs, the box set gets around to compositions by (or tunes made famous by), among others, Otis Rush ("All Your Love I Miss Loving"), Guitar Slim (aka Eddie Jones, "They Call Me Guitar Hurricane" "Letter To My Girlfriend," "Things (That) I Used To Do"), Albert Collins ("Don' t Lose Your Cool"), Albert King ("Cross Cut Saw"), Larry Davis ("Texas Flood"), John Lee Hooker ("Hug You, Squeeze You" ), Buddy Guy ("Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Leave My Girl Alone"), Howlin' Wolf ("I'm Leavin' You (Commit a Crime)," "May I Have a Talk With You"), Elmore James ("The Sky Is Crying"), and Willie Dixon ("Let Me Love You, Baby"). In a class all to themselves are Double Trouble's treatments of several songs by Vaughan's idol and inspiration, Jimi Hendrix. These include "Manic Depression" (live at Fitzgerald's in Houston, 1981), "Little Wing/Third Stone From the Sun" (live at the CBS Records convention in Honolulu, 1984), "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" (live at Carnegie Hall, 1984, and "Austin City Limits," 1989). SRV also samples a number of interesting collaborations, starting with Vaughan's first major appearance on a fellow bluesman's album, when he joined Houston's Johnny Copeland on his LP, Texas Twister ("Don't Stop By the Creek, Son"), recorded in 1982. The following year, Vaughan joined another one of his idols, Albert King, for a videotaping of the Canadian music television series, "In Session," their only known recording together. The music went unreleased on record until last year's In Session album was issued (including "Ask Me No Questions" ). The box set also features collaborations with Lonnie Mack ("If You Have To Know," 1984), A.C. Reed ("These Blues Is Killing Me," 1984), Jeff Beck ("Goin' Down," 1989), and Vaughan's brother Jimmie of the Fabulous Thunderbirds ("Rude Mood/Pipeline" at Mardi Gras, 1987; and "Long Way From Home" from the Family Style album by the Vaughan Brothers, 1990). SRV continues Epic/Legacy's commitment to preserving and furthering the recorded catalog of Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 1999 this began with the album restoration project - which included digital remastering, bonus tracks, new liner notes and photographs - for Vaughan's Texas Flood, Couldn't Stand the Weather, Soul To Soul, and In Step albums, whose simultaneous release was accompanied by a new compilation, The Real Deal: Greatest Hits 2. In March 2000, Epic/Legacy released Blues At Sunrise, a scorching compilation of ten slow blues.' Included were two previously unreleased tracks (one live with Johnny Copeland at the Montreux Festival, 1985) and another track that was making its first appearance on CD ("Texas Flood" from the Epic home video Live at the El Mocambo, same source as SRV's "Hug You, Squeeze You"). The compilation climaxed with a 15-minute live jam session with Albert King on his title tune "Blues At Sunrise," from the aforementioned In Session album. Collectors will be pleased to note that not one track has been duplicated from that CD on the new box set. "A memorial to Stevie Ray stands on Town Lake," writes former Texas Governor Ann Richards, "the section of the Colorado River that flows through downtown Austin. The memorial is near the place where he played his last concert in Austin. It is a statue of Stevie Ray at ease, standing there with his hand on his guitar, facing south. The statue is about eight feet tall - literally larger than life. The size is appropriate because he was a giant to those who heard him." For further information on SRV contact: Legacy Media Relations ### |
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