Stevie Ray Vaughn: C or D / S & D

There have been blues stars since, definitely some great guitarists, but has anyone new approached his stature or popularity since he died? He seems like the last one to become a big mainstream star in their lifetime.

yah i dont think anyones gotten close.

i dont listen to him all that much but theres def an itch that only he can scratch, on occasion

That's pretty much how I feel. He has a very well-curated catalog (his estate has been very selective of what to release because they didn't like what happened with Hendrix's posthumous releases), but that two-disc The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan is mainly what I've listened to over the years. I know Sony/Legacy cranked those out, but some of them actually are definitive compilations selection-wise and this is one of them.

I saw Stevie Ray Vaughn as a teenager live a couple times and he blew my mind and he still kinda does.

As the years go by and you find out things like that Tommy Shannon was Johnny Winter's bassist early on (played Woodstock with him) and that Reese Wynans was playing in the embryonic Allman Brothers until Duane convinced Greg to come back from California. Those are pretty interesting connections in hindsight.

I didn't realize the massive amount of hate that's been posted on this board for Vaughan! He doesn't figure among my favorites, but he sure doesn't deserve those other threads. I took another listen to The Essential set I mentioned above, and from a traditionalist perspective, he's very enjoyable. His Hendrix covers are wonderful, especially the extended instrumental "Little Wing," but to me he's very much a blues artist rather than a rock 'n' roll or blues-rock artist, if that makes sense. To be clear, I'm not a stickler for classifications - call his music whatever you like, and his stuff will play just fine on certain rock playlists - but even when he's diving into material outside of traditional blues or pulling in influences from non-blues musicians, I don't think he strays too far in his interpretations and approach. Like his best contemporaries (Robert Cray comes to mind), his work is strongly anchored in the blues if not restricted within blues conventions. And "Riviera Paradise" makes me wish he was able to develop and try his hand at a jazz album.

I really, really dislike his voice, and in 30 years of listening to his albums off and on, here and there, I have never heard him do anything original with all his talent and technique, so in a world that already has Buddy Guy, and had Albert King and Albert Collins, I see no real reason for Vaughan's music to exist. Except that back in the 80s a whole bunch of people just really, really needed their blues guitar hero to be a white guy in a hat.

I'm not sure what originality one might expect in this particular milieu. Technique/tone/talent is kind of the name of the game. Plus songs, of course, but songs are sort of last on the list. Unless you're, you know, Robert Cray, who is such a good songwriter that his playing is almost besides the point.

And anyway, Vaughan had songs. It's not like he was George Thorogood or something.

Thorp good has a song, c’mon now.

I appreciate that my phone autocorrected to Thorp good, that should be some dance producer’s name.

the only 'original'-ish thing i can recall since his death is the revelation of junior kimbrough

buddy guy took his shot with 'sweet tea' and it was incredible. i would very much like to have heard SRV's take on that, even if his vocals sucked

omg mookie thank you for reminding me about sweet tea

I can appreciate his talent, but I've never been able to get into him at all. As unperson points out, his voice is a really big hurdle for me (and believe I recognize the irony as someone who had no problem with Billy Corgan pre-1990), but I just found it obnoxious. The other reason was that I knew two huge SRV boosters in college and they were both the most annoying, pestering guys that dressed and acted exactly like the Blues Hammer dudes you might expect. Both of them just consistently refused to engage in any music outside of SRV or the artists he covered and collaborated with, although I do remember them both really getting into Kenny Wayne Shepherd towards the end of college.

Every time I've come across "I hate SRV because of these people I know..." I inevitably think of this.

Now, like, Kenny Wayne Shepherd? Jonny Lang? Jeff Healy? I never heard much character in any of those cats. Maybe someone like Warren Haynes does, but he's going for something different from those other dudes.

Anyway, yeah, at the very least, if you don't like his vox Vaughan has a bunch of great instrumental stuff. Like his interpretation of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqwGkADH_GY

Or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x1vfs_zmcw

Just looking, I was surprised to see Xgau was an unabashed fan.

Sounds like you guys would jump on a Andrea Bocelli sings the blues album.

Sounds like you guys would jump on a Andrea Bocelli sings the blues album.
LMAO

SRV doesn't rank among my favorite singers, but dismissing someone altogether with "I can't stand his voice" is worthless criticism, it's typically a sign of personal prejudice and not much else. Too many voices to name are acquired tastes.

Ah then that shows my beautiful purity, since I hate all singers, and music, and in fact most everything. I am only interested in concrete walls.

Or, y'know, sometimes people just find certain voices really off-putting. I swear to god, the amount of energy people put into assuming bad or dishonest intent when someone doesn't like a particular artist is bonkers to me.

It's kind of the Rush corollary for me: in the end, I'm really not listening for the singing.

I can usually put aside voices I don't love, I mean stoner rock in particular is littered with mediocre to awful singes but they usually are sparse and/or buried enough in fuzz that they don't bother me. SRV's voice, however, seems to just cut right through everything to pierce my appreciation of his guitar playing. His instrumentals are pretty good though!

Just here to say “life by the drop” is a beautiful song

I swear to god, the amount of energy people put into assuming bad or dishonest intent when someone doesn't like a particular artist is bonkers to me.

Oh please, it doesn't take nearly as much effort as going on and on about how everyone is wrong to like someone because THE VOICE!