Exactly twenty years ago tonight, August 27th 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan passed away. I wasn't even born yet, but I miss him. I never got the chance to meet him, but it's not hard to figure out what kind of a person he was. Obviously he's one of the most incredible musicians ever, but he was more than just that.

Spoken by Stevie Ray during "Life Without You", The Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, Pa., 6/30/87, radio broadcast:
"Ya know, right now the most important thing in my life is to make sure you understand that, first of all I thank god I'm alive today, and I mean that. You see, I spent too many years of my life thinking that the big party was the whole thing. It took me quite a while to find out that the real deal is to be able to be enough of a person on your own to know when somebody loves you and cares about you. You see, we are here, as far as I can tell, to help each other; our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our enemies. That is to help each other and not hurt each other. And sometimes to help them we have got to help ourselves. So that we will know that they are around in the first place. Are you listening to me ? Thank you. I'm glad to hear that."

Not your typical rock star mentality there, that's for sure.

I had a gig tonight and I asked if we could play Riviera Paradise as sort of a special thing. I don't usually pick the songs, but in this case it was something I felt like I needed to do as a thank you. R.I.P. Stevie.

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His was one extraordinarily gifted and generous soul, no doubt about it.

RIP, Stevie......you got a lot of good company up there.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

It is hard to believe it has been 20 years. Such a shame.

I miss the music he could have made. RIP SRV

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the vacuum store is a lot like the guitar store. but they do not attract the same clientele as the guitar store, cause if they did, the vacuum store would be loaded with a bunch of broke guys who just wanted to run the new vacuums.

I still remember the first time I heard Stevie, it was a year or two after he died. I had been playing guitar for about a year and at the time my main influence was Slash, I really liked his bluesy type solos and I started looking for some great blues guitarists. I started listening to Clapton, Hendrix, BB King and Buddy Guy. I was looking for that mean low down wrong side of the tracks blues and Buddy was pretty close but he was missing something. My next door neighbor was a guitar player and I talked to him about it and he handed me his cassette tape of Texas Flood and said "try this". Honestly I didn't like Love Struck Baby very much but I thought Pride & Joy was cool, then came Texas Flood... it was exactly what I had been looking for! I replayed the song over and over again, ran over to my firends house and played it for them. It probably took a few days to get to the rest of the tape only to discover the other gems: Testify, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Dirty Pool and Lenny.

I gave the tape back to my neighbor telling him about how excited I was about Stevie's music and asked more about him. I was crushed when he told me that he had died a few years earlier but that didn't stop me from getting every bit of his music I could track down.

Stevie is still my biggest influence and favorite player and although I wish he was still with us making music his impact on music, blues and guitar players everywhere is a testement to his legacy and proof that he will live forever in our hearts.

Tune low, play hard and floor it.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

20 years..wow! I remember having a real empty feeling after hearing the news. Rest easy man!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

just watched some live at the el macombo, immortal.

I hope he's not rest'n, I hope he and Jimi are tear'n up the place.

I saw him with BB King a couple weeks prior to his death.....It was an awesome show . He will be sorely missed forever in my heart... I often think about all the killer music we would have had from him at this time.Prime of his life and he still had alot more to show us what he really had and could accomplish.I am just grateful he left us with what he did...Thanks Stevie

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1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

Wow 20 years... I saw Eric Clapton in Kansas City a couple days later. It was the best show ever...

RIP Stevie

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

Is it really 20 years? Sad to think about the music lost.

John.E

R.I.P. Stevie. Thank You for the great music you left behind.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQn49_tNrds

In my opinion, without a doubt the greatest man to ever pickup a Strat. There are really only two guitarist for me, that when they hit those notes you feel it with them, it hits you so hard and you keep wanting more! It just so happens that they were both great fans of one another.



We miss you brother Stevie, you were taken way too soon... RIP Stevie Ray.

Thanks TGS for this post and for playing that tune at your gig!

I was also a late-comer to appreciating Stevie's music. I was in the Air Force at the time, working a midnight shift and heard about the crash the next morning when I went home. I wish that I had been a fan before his death, but thanks to the volumes of music out there by him, his music will never be forgotten.

RIP Stevie...



Jim

I was lucky enough to see Stevie in concert just 2 or 3 months before that terrible crash and I was so close to the stage that I could have reached out and touched his boots,we lose too many gifted musicians before their time.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Amen to that!


Jim

While I am not a huge SRV fan, I recognize greatness when I see it and the man was a great guitarist. His legacy will always live on and he has inspired countless players including many of my favorites. My guitar instructor played with both Jimmie and Stevie and has told me so many stories about Stevie and how unique the guy was. Always sad when we lose someone so talented so early. There is no doubt the guitar as we know it would sound a lot different if he and some others were still around.

RIP SRV

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!