SRV Interviews

In The Studio - The Best of SRV

Transcription by Paul Kaplan kaplan@wsj.com, a member of The TexasFlood Typin' Team.

PART ONE - SEGMENT ONE
Redbeard:
Hi and welcome to "In The Studio". I'm Redbeard, with the stories behind the greatest rock and roll albums in history. This week we go in the studio for part one of a two-part bittersweet story of the best from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

[Sound bites of "Pride & Joy," and "Cold Shot," in the background]

Chris Layton:
Yeah, Stevie, in playing with him there was a thing about him that was very, very simple. It's like, if it, if it felt good, then it was good. It was a very "trust your instincts" band. Spontaneous... didn't matter if there were some little minor performance mistakes, if the if the spirit was there and there was fire and the feeling was good, then it was happenin'.

["Change It" sound bite]

Hi. This is Tommy Shannon. And I'm Chris Layton in the studio for the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Part 1.

RB:
Struggle. Fame. Despair. Near death. Recovery. Triumph. and finally, tragedy. All of these are elements in the story of Stevie Ray Vaughan. But through it all, there was the music. Stevie Vaughan grew up with his big brother Jimmie in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas Texas. Stevie idolized his big brother's way with the guitar and dropped out of high school to follow his brother to Austin's growing club scene. There, Stevie could actually could see and hear many of the blues greats whose records he played endlessly as a child. These bluesmen had discovered an enthusiastic club owner in Clifford Antone, and an audience that appreciated them. It was the perfect atmosphere for the young, skinny Stevie Vaughan to apply for apprenticeship. He was payin' dues and playin' the blues nightly. And nobody bothered to check his I.D. for legal age. Stevie Vaughan's guitar playing was an all-access pass that could never be revoked. Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton remembers vividly the sound that would change his life.
CL:
First time I heard Stevie play, and I didn't meet him that night, but the first time I heard him play was at a place called Soap Creek Saloon in Austin, Texas. Drove up, got out of my car, and I could hear the band playing but I heard this . . . this piercing guitar as if it was like outside and not even coming from inside, it was just it was like drilling right through the walls of the building and I thought "Wow, who is this guy?" and it was Stevie. He's playing and I thought he's remarkable, it was just, he was.
RB:
Double Trouble bass player, Tommy Shannon finds it fateful how he came to know Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Tommy Shannon:
It was really kind of ironic the way I met him. Before I met him, I was playing with Johnny Winter and we broke up, and I flew back to Dallas and this club called The Fog was our old hangout. That's where I met Johnny Winter. And uh, I went in one night and Stevie was playing, he's about fourteen, fifteen years old and there's all these big people around him you know and he just looked up to `em. A lot of `em kinda treated him like a pest, you know, later on he said he remembered I was the only one that was nice to him, but uh, he was incredible. I mean I knew even though he was just a little kid that he had a special gift, I knew that.
RB:
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's big break came with a chance booking without any record contract at the prestigious 1982 Montreaux Jazz Festival at Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where audience members David Bowie and Jackson Browne were so impressed, that Bowie hired Stevie Vaughan as featured guitarist for Bowie's "Let's Dance" album, while Jackson Browne invited Double Trouble to use his recording studio in L.A. Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton recall their humble beginnings recording with Stevie Ray Vaughan.
TS:
We went to L.A. and ah, see we did three days right?
CL:
Yeah, as it turned out is what it really kind of amounted to.
TS:
Yeah, the second day we did two songs. And the last day we did eight.
CL:
What we did was we actually mounted like what was like a two week tour with that being the objective. To do shows and make a little bit of money and end up in L.A. and be able to record. But Jackson gave us the studio time, in fact, "Texas Flood" is actually recorded on like pre-production recordings of "Lawyers in Love." Over the top of just used tape, so he threw that in too.

[Both laugh]

I guess if you look deep enough, you'll find "Lawyers in Love" underneath "Texas Flood."

TS:
Subliminal.

["Pride & Joy" is played.]

RB:
Yeah. From Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's debut, 1983's "Texas Flood," that's "Pride & Joy." Their music, rough, hewn and soulful was in high contrast with the highly synthesized keyboard-heavy modern rock of bands such as the Eurythmics, and culturally it was a planet away from other chart toppers such as England's The Police and Australia's Men at Work. Stevie Vaughan's high-profile licks on Bowie's comeback album and Double Trouble's "Texas Flood," were a calling card that many noticed. Here's legendary blues guitarist and singer, Buddy Guy.
Buddy Guy:
Well first of all, when you're a guitar player, those things come to you, we almost like like prize fighters you know . . . you hear about this this this whatever ah weight division you're in, you hear about this guy comin' before you get to him you know (laughs) so ah yeah I heard about him with the David Bowie, and uh, naturally you know I had been goin' down into Austin around Antone's and that's why he went in there and started making his noise at first, I think. And ah, his brother finally told me Jimmie Vaughan that ah, he would let him use all the records that he would play but he was hiding the ones on me from him and when ah we used to laugh about it before he passed away, he used to tell me say say something funny say brother every time I listen in the room I'm hearin' something you're not givin' me and he had to steal the record of mine's and and uh that's how he got a hold of my licks from the album.
RB:
Buddy Guy noticed how Stevie Vaughan soaked up a variety of blues influences like a sponge.
BG:
Well, I got to know him as one-one of my best friends before he passed away and he-he was so much like myself when he come to that, there wasn't anybody that he didn't pick up on, you know you could hear Otis Rush in him, you could hear ah B.B. King on him, you could hear Elmore James on him and he just went and that's what I think makes a good guitar player, a good horn player whatever. You you get `em all and you put `em together I guess that's why gumbo tastes so good cause you put everything in it.

["Cold Shot" plays]

RB:
That's "Cold Shot" from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's second album, 1984's "Couldn't Stand the Weather." The key man responsible for signing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble to a recording contract John Hammond, Sr., the legendary record man who had also discovered Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen was actually in the studio this time as executive producer. I asked Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton of Double Trouble about Hammond's role.
CL:
He was kinda like our gyroscope. But he didn't have a great deal of input other than he always wanted to make sure that the voices were recorded as naturally as possible, for one was a real big thing with him. And, he was real good at at like pegging when we had gotten what he thought was our best performance.
TS:
Yeah, even when we didn't think it was, you know.
CL:
For an example, "Tin Pan Alley" was a was a song we recorded as we were just beginning to get our sounds for that record. And we kinda did a run-through, and we were just weren't even quite up I don't think on everything with yet having gotten the sounds and we kinda did this real quiet, probably the quietest version we ever did up to up 'til that point of "Tin Pan Alley" and we kinda just played through it everyone was real feelin' relaxed and everything and we ended it and he said he said he said "that's the best that song will ever sound" and we went "We haven't even got sounds have we?" he goes "that doesn't matter" he goes "that's the best you'll ever do that song." And we thought oh well I don't know about that but `um we tried it again I don't know how many more times we tried to cut it five, six seven times I can't even remember but it never quite sounded like it did that first time.
TS:
Yeah, he was very wise man. You know, it was great working with him cause you know he was what, in his seventies then?

["Voodoo Chile" intro in background]

CL:
Yeah seventy-two, seventy-one.
TS:
And yet he was so connected in what's going on today, you know, he had a real subtle influence that came out to be real important.
CL:
John Hammond was like a seer . . . could like I always thought he could like he could see things that other people couldn't see. Which was just a kinda a great influence to have around. Cause he wasn't a technical guy, wasn't an engineer, he was just kind of like a enigma, an inspiration. Like a lot of other guitar players first he was kind of fascinated by all the original type things that Hendrix did that hadn't really ever been done before. Plus, he loved the way he sang. I think he was also fascinated honestly by the fact that the kind of music that he had done and how many people it had reached around the world being done by somebody who was black. Even though he tried to see things colorless, it was like he that was very thought that was very cool that that Hendrix had achieved this...this artistic notoriety and commercial success and not commercial, just monetary success overall success like a lot of other people that he always really idolized never...never quite got to. And Hendrix had and that was great that that was happenin' or it happened for him.
TS:
Yeah, one thing also, Stevie's the only guitar player I've ever heard do Hendrix. Never heard anybody else who could do justice to him. I don't know, to me it just seems like uh part of Jimi Hendrix's spirit was in Stevie. The reason Stevie did Hendrix songs was...was just out of respect. You know, it wasn't to compare himself with Hendrix or or show off "Hey, look what I can do" or anything like that. But the main reason Stevie did that was out of respect cause he loved Jimi Hendrix and there was no other motives for it other than that.

["Voodoo Chile" ends.]

RB:
Considered career suicide and rock and roll blasphemy, prior to the release of "Couldn't Stand the Weather," that Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's remarkable tribute to Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile." I'm Redbeard. Coming up we'll hear how Stevie Ray Vaughan`s star rose rapidly while the storm clouds brewed on the horizon. Next, "In the Studio" with the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

[Commercials]

PART ONE - SEGMENT TWO
RB:
Welcome back to "In the Studio," focusing on the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble Part 1. I'm Redbeard. "Couldn't Stand the Weather," Stevie's second album with Double Trouble, sold more than a million copies and catapulted the trio into headlining gigs and non-stop bookings. His guitar-playing style had several physical components that facilitated his abilities. Stevie Vaughan had massive forearms and long bony fingers which he used to massage blistering licks from the heaviest steel guitar strings and thickest frets available. I asked Austin-based writer, Joe Nick Patoski, co- author of the biography Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire, how Stevie could coax music out of grinding so much metal.
Joe Nick Patoski:
His contemporaries would have had blood all over their fingertips, and in fact Stevie had on numerous occasions torn up his fingers in such a way that he rather than ah go to a lighter gauge string he just whipped out some crazy glue, put them on any cuts or or torn calluses on his finger and got back out there and played. I think that those physical abilities to to handle something that tough made his playing sound tougher.
RB:
Prior to recording Double Trouble's third album, Stevie Vaughan lost a dear friend suddenly. It wouldn't be the only warning sign amidst all of the success. Here is Chris Layton, followed by Tommy Shannon of Double Trouble.
CL:
Charley Wirz had Charley's Guitar Shop in Dallas and Stevie had known him for quite a long time and he's just a great guy. Come one of the real people and it was just a great vibe and Stevie always liked to go in there, Charley have some kind of cool guitar say "hey, check this out, why don't you go take it and play it for awhile" and he might not ever ask for it back, or Stevie give it back to him, or he's keep it for a year or whatever the case might be, he was just this great guy who was a real supporter of the band and real down home kinda guy and um, when he died it hurt Stevie a lot, cause he felt like he had lost um just one of those people that there weren't a lot of people like him in the world.
TS:
He wrote one song for Charley, "Life Without You," they were real tight. I remember ah that Charley had this old fifty-seven P-Bass you know that just meant beautiful bass that he didn't want to sell and somehow, Stevie talked him out of it ah and Stevie carved "Soul to Soul" on the bass and gave it to me. You know, I keep that bass at home in a anvil case in a closet at the very back.

["Life Without You" is played.]

RB:
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's "Life Without You" from the third album, "Soul to Soul." It was on this album that the trio experimented with the Texas keyboard player.
TS:
Ah, his name is Reese Wynans. The idea, he came in, he was just going like to do two or three songs with us and um Stevie had got real excited over his playin', decided to have him play on more songs and so it was Stevie's idea, he wanted Reese to join the band.
CL:
We kinda reached the point where I think I think that we went into make "Soul to Soul" that maybe more so than any other studio record, we were probably less prepared to make that.
TS:
Yeah.
CL:
And having done two records, even though I wanted to, even though I always wanted to try to figure how can we make a better record than "Couldn't Stand the Weather" or "Texas Flood" and do it as a trio, and I think at the time Stevie was like and we were all exhausted, the work had gotten to us, we'd worked a lot when we got in there we realized how exhausted we were and then but here we were make trying to make a record. And Stevie, had just prior to that had had talked about " well maybe we should like broaden the sound" or do something ah a little bit different, add another . . . another texture to the music.
RB:
After albums in L.A., and New York City, the "Soul to Soul" album was recorded in Stevie Vaughan's home town of Dallas. But strangely, Stevie stayed in a hotel for months that it took to record. I wondered aloud to Tommy Shannon, why Stevie hadn't stayed with his parents.
TS:
And Stevie's frame of mind at that time, I don't think that woulda worked out at all, cause ah, our addiction was gettin' worse and worse, so I don't think he'd feel real comfortable around his parents.
CL:
Yeah, it was pretty serious, (clears throat) at the time, he had a pretty serious drug and drinking problem, it was a pretty indulgent record, it caused a lot of problems. We ended up spending a lot of time playing ping-pong and just kinda hangin' around and doin' drugs and drinking and then we'd go play for awhile and then we you know something if we hit a snag, it was kinda discouraging, we might go back to play ping-pong for a coupla three hours or and so it was, it was a dark period, it was. Even in the bright spots in when what the record ended up being, it was a pretty dark period. It was the most expensive ping-pong I've ever played.

["Lookin' Out the Window" is played.]

["Look at Little Sister" is played.]

RB:
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, great rock and rhythm and blues from the album "Soul to Soul," that's "Lookin' Out the Window," and Look at Little Sister." I'm Redbeard. Next, we'll find out about the Blue Devils, and that's not an opening act. As we return to the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, "In the Studio."

[Commercials]

PART ONE - SEGMENT THREE
RB:
Welcome back to "In the Studio" for The Best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Part 1. I'm Redbeard. Everybody's heard of "the blues." But did you ever wonder where the term for this emotional, often painful always soulful music originated? The blues is short for blue devils, the personification of temptation that would come late round midnight to haunt a person's mind and try to steal their soul. And regardless of the many awards and continued money coming in, make no mistake about it, by summer of `86, Stevie Vaughan and Tommy Shannon of Double Trouble, had the blues. I asked Tommy why Double Trouble didn't take some time off of their hectic touring and recording schedule.
TS:
Ah, for one thing, it goes back to us being real high all the time, you know, we really didn't care for any time off and everything's getting better like you're seeing the awards come in and it seemed like we were going uphill and everything seemed like it was working.
CL:
We also developed this, I guess you could call it the machinery you know, we had an organization and . . . and Stevie was always great about this equality and treatment of everybody. There's like there was always bills to be paid and we were making more and more money, there were more and more bills to be paid and it was kinda like these things like how do you slow the machine down, how do you just bring it to a stop? And I think we were so wound up in everything that we were doing it become so fast-paced and so tight as far as everything happening day after day that the thought of like stopping was like how do you just stop this train that's almost really out of control at that point? And so we just, we just kept on going.
TS:
And I was running neck to neck with Stevie, I mean we were both way way out there um, I think I saw it comin' before he did, you know I knew that we were both getting ready to hit a brick wall and I remember him and I talking about it you know, I think it was in Dallas and um we I remember we . . . we both started crying and we both got down on the floor on our knees, and prayed you know to help . . . for help cause we knew we were in real deep trouble, and um, we got up did some more cocaine, took some more drinks.

["Change It" is played.]

RB:
That's called "Change It" and that comes from the "Soul to Soul" album from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Plans for a huge international tour and a live album were now added to the burden. Original manager Chesley Milliken was replaced. Maybe now, Stevie Vaughan can take a break. Stevie Ray Vaughan biographer Joe Nick Patoski.
JNP:
By August of `86, Stevie had sought and . . .and gotten new management in the form of Alex Hodges, Alex had a little more sympathetic ear than, ah, Chesley Milliken did and he felt more comfortable with him. And this seemed to be the beginning of a very strong relationship, Alex might afford them the time to take off on the road and relax but after looking over the books, Alex came to but one conclusion: Guys, we got to go out and keep working a little bit to get things back in balance.
RB:
Then, tragedy struck at home. Big Jim Vaughan, Stevie's dad, died on August 27th, 1986 while Double Trouble was on tour. Certainly, now they would have to stop. Chris Layton . . .
CL:
The night we'd buried Big Jim we got on a jet and flew to Montreal and we did a show that night and I thought how could we be doing this and because I remember when my father had died it was, it was tragic to me even though I mean I knew he was going to die, he'd been sick for awhile and but Stevie seemed like headstrong to like "We gotta I gotta keep working" I remember he said "This is what's, this is what'll get me through, this is what's good for me today." And so he dealt with it, he dealt with it pretty good, but I felt he was also kinda compartmentalizing it in saying "I'll take care of whatever is gonna come at me later."
RB:
Author, Joe Nick Patoski . . .
JNP:
Taking stimulants was a means of . . . of keeping the business going. He was running ragged, but the demands of the business were such that it was time for a new album, once the album comes out, time to go tour it, and there was just there was no time left to be Stevie Vaughan, the kid from Dallas, it was time to be Stevie Ray all the time.
RB:
Within a month after the death of his father, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble finally hit bottom.
TS:
He got where if he just had he could wake up in the morning and have one drink and just be real drunk and um, you know he's like he's real confused he wasn't centered at all.
CL:
God, we were some real small little town in Germany, Stevie and I had been out on the street and he like kneeled down a couple of times to throw up and it was like blood and like part of his stomach and stuff coming out, I remember there were no bars, there were no drugs and there were no bars open and ah he's like "I kinda need a drink, I gotta have a drink" and they're telling us no that's you don't need that, he said "I know but I gotta have one," and anyhow he kinda regained himself and went back to the room, went back to the hotel and that's we were three of us were together and he'd kind of seemed to kind of come around.
TS:
Out of nowhere, he just started shakin', he turned white and started sweatin' and we had to call an ambulance.
CL:
I remember that too, I remember looking in-in his eyes it was almost like it was like the life went out of his eyes for a second, like, if you've ever seen a dead animal's eyes are like glazed over and there's you can tell there's no life. It's almost like you could see that there was almost some kind of movie or somethin', some special effect and then it kinda came back in and he said I -I -I need help. Then I knew that . . . that something had switched in him and he was ready to take care of his life and . . . and something - God, some force had brought him back from the . . . the edge - any longer and I don't think he would have been with us.
RB:
When Stevie Vaughan sought help, it had been waiting all along. The challenge was one day at a time - one week - one month. A simple chip is awarded to each recovering alcoholic on each anniversary of sobriety. How important is that chip, symbolically? Just ask Tommy Shannon.
TS:
Yeah, in the program Stevie and I belonged to, that's when Stevie hit his bottom you know, and they talk about that a lot. You know, you have to reach bottom, or you just can't take it anymore. And-and it was true for myself, I didn't have a physical breakdown, but it-it's kinda like when I saw that in Stevie, I knew the old way of doing things was gone for both of us. You know, we both checked ourselves in treatment centers the same day. He was in Georgia, and I was here in Austin. But the thing is there's really a (clears throat) a relief when you hit that bottom and you know it's kinda like you surrender to the fact well, it's gotta change, you know, I've gotta start a complete new way of life - or else die you know you have those two choices.

["Life By the Drop" fades in]

It's like each year you celebrate on the birthday and uh, I still pick him up a chip every year.

["Life By the Drop" continues.]

RB:
Written by Stevie Ray Vaughan's good friend, Doyle Bramhall, that is "Life By the Drop," from the Grammy award-winning Stevie Ray Vaughan album, "The Sky is Crying." I'll be back "In the Studio" after this.
PART TWO - SEGMENT ONE
RB:
Hi, and welcome to "In the Studio." I'm Redbeard, bringing you the stories behind the greatest rock and roll albums in history. Today, "In the Studio," it's the conclusion at our two-part look at the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

["Crossfire" starts to play.]

Chris Layton:
What I remember-I remember is when he introduced Stevie, introduced him as the world's greatest guitar player, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and when he played his first note, it sounded like he bent the string farther than there was fretboard, it was like the fretboard had been like four feet wide, this note just like shot out, and it was like amazing. Cause once again, I remember thinking just like the very first time I ever heard Stevie it was like you could hear the band but all of a sudden, you just heard this guitar, and this one note was like bigger than everything else that was going on and I thought God, I got these chill bumps it was like this thing ran up my spine I went "Jesus, what is goin' on?" cause I mean I never heard him play a note like that, quite like that.

["Tick-Tock" starts to play]

Hi. This is Tommy Shannon. And I'm Chris Layton in the studio for the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Part 2.

RB:
In Part 1 of our "In the Studio" rockumentary on the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, we left off with the harrowing collapse of Stevie while on tour in Europe. He was hospitalized near death first in London, and then in a substance abuse rehab center in Georgia. Double Trouble bass player, Tommy Shannon checked into a similar detox facility in Austin, Texas the very same day. The dream of player guitar for everyone, everywhere had turned into a nightmare. The gravity of Stevie Vaughan's and Tommy Shannon's medical condition pulled the large touring and recording machinery to a merciful halt. Drummer Chris Layton and keyboard player Reese Wynans were saddled with trying to salvage botched live recordings for a double live album. After a lengthy hospitalization, both Stevie Vaughan and Tommy Shannon rejoined the band but it was hardly business as usual. The real test of their newly found sobriety would be the road. Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton follows Tommy Shannon.
Tommy Shannon:
I remember my first gig sober with Stevie and I was terrified . . .
CL:
God.
TS:
And I looked out there and saw those people and I mean my heart was goin' like this I was terrified - I was thinking God, boy I need a drink - but I went ahead and went out there and went through it and after a period of time you know, I got used to it. And I mean it felt different, everything about it was different, you know - there wasn't that sloppy abandon myself and just do all that you know it's kinda like as we went on I had to discipline myself you know, work on my techniques - sit down and do these petty exercises and stuff and I started wanting to become a better musician.
CL:
I remember being a little bit frightened but at the same time had this confidence in everybody always knowin' everybody in this band to be people that didn't do things unless they really meant them and for the fact that everybody had decided to . . . or said come to this point in their life to turn their life around that it woulda never gotten there if they didn't plan on stayin' there. I think you - Tommy had told me that how many people who become er-er in a recovery don't actually stay there and they fall back into drinking or doing whatever their drug of choice was - I thought I was kinda amazed by it . . .
TS:
Yeah . . .
CL:
. . . because out of everybody in the organization that entered recovery, everybody's still there. It's like 100% where it's like the success rate was so . . .
TS:
Yeah . . .
CL:
. . . small, and I thought well it-it didn't surprise me that everybody was still sober because I just figured wouldn't a done it if he didn't mean it.
TS:
Yeah, it's like when we came back to work, you know being clean and sober at first, um, two of the guys in our crew had gotten clean and sober also and you know it's like there's all kinds of support you know the whole emphasis was on-on sobriety you know and used to be back when we were high all the time there'd be drugs and alcohol and all kinds of people anybody who had drugs

["Tightrope" fading in]

could get in and it changed from that to people who had the same goals as us, you know staying clean and sober.

["Tightrope" is played.]

RB:
Heavyweight lyrics that pulled no punches, that's "Crossfire" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble written by Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton and Reese Wynans for their first post-recovery album called "In Step." Here's Chris and Tommy.
CL:
And then right at that point when they went in treatment I mean I stopped - I stopped doing everything for a few months - started working out and gettin' real healthy and swimmin' and doin' all this stuff and I started feelin' great I thought wow, what a change from the life that I had been leading.
TS:
One thing, you know, it was gonna be our first album clean and sober and S-Stevie he was real afraid, you know, of tackling this clean and sober, matter of fact I was too. We both had the same fear that it might not work - it was very frightening, it really was cause the back of your head you're goin' well what if this if this doesn't work when you're sober? you know, it turned out I think to be our best record.
RB:
I asked Double Trouble's rhythm section if they noticed any change in Stevie Ray Vaughan's performance while recording the "In Step" album.
TS:
I thought he was playin' better, you know, a lot more tasteful and, um, I thought his vocals improved tremendously - I think his vocals on that record were definitely the best.
CL:
Yeah, his-his vo-his whole scene got incredibly better and his guitar playing did too. He got more concise what he really felt - what he felt and what he was able to say with his guitar was more connected then it ever had been. I mean he would say that too beforehand it was like he would like just kinda do all kind he could do anything it always sounded good and that's what he said he would you know tend to do - you know play too many notes or pl - whatever and maybe really wasn't what he f - wanted to do but he connected up with everything - all his feelings and thoughts everything connected much more with what actually came out in making that record.

["Let Me Love You Baby" is played.]

RB:
Oh yeah, that's Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble from "In Step" with "Let Me Love You Baby," written by the great blues man, the late great Willie Dixon. In talking with writer Joe Nick Patoski, co-author of the Stevie Ray Vaughan biography, "Caught in the Crossfire," I mentioned what Buddy Guy told me about the importance of Stevie's work. Buddy Guy told me something, Buddy Guy and this is a quote, he said "Stevie Ray Vaughan had a skeleton key that unlocked all the doors for the rest of us."
Joe Nick Patoski:
And that's the truth, there's no question about that these-these guys were they were in a period of decline an-and really not since the Filmore scene in the late 60's when Albert King and B.B. King and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells folks like that had really had their uh-uh heyday with as far as reaching a-about as broad an audience as they ever had - it had been on the decline since then and, um, work was harder they were-they were resigned to either playing clubs or working the chitlin' circuit for those ah few older blacks that were still

["Tightrope" fades in]

smitten with the blues, but they had kinda fallen out of favor with-with this larger audience and Stevie opened the door for `em again.

["Tightrope" is played.]

RB:
Walkin' the "Tightrope" from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's "In Step," and written by two who should know, Doyle Bramhall with Stevie Vaughan. I'm Redbeard - next we'll hear how one of Stevie Vaughan's dreams to record a whole album with his brother Jimmie became a reality "In the Studio" with the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Part 2.

[Commercials]

PART TWO - SEGMENT TWO
RB:
Welcome back "In the Studio" for the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan Part 2. I'm Redbeard. If there was one single motivating factor in young Stevie Vaughan embracing the guitar, it had to be his big brother Jimmie. He had the first guitar - he had the first amplifier. Jimmie had the blues records that entranced little Stevie and it was Jimmie who first left home and made quite a reputation as a guitar slinger with serious chops. Even after Double Trouble had sold millions of albums themselves, Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton recall Stevie's opinion of big brother, Jimmie Vaughan.
TS:
He adored Jimmie. He said Jimmie was his number one influence.
CL:
Yeah, he did he-he loved everything that Jimmie did "oh wow man, he goes that's so cool check that out" you know it was like you know Jimmie couldn't do any wrong.
TS:
Yeah, I remember him sayin' "Yup, that's still my big brother, you know, Jimmie be out there playin'."
CL:
`Member Stevie went "Man I get up there" and he goes "I played like a million notes and then Jimmie steps up there and plays like one note and knocks everybody down in the whole club" you know he goes "whoosh, man, that's cool."

[Tommy & Chris laugh]

RB:
So how did they feel when Stevie Vaughan announced his plans to record an entire album with his brother?
TS:
At first, you know, I started thinkin' maybe they were gonna to join a band together you know, and little fears like that crept in but-but all in all, you know, it didn't really bother me that much, you know, cause I knew Stevie wanted to play in our band, I know that, you know he loved doin' that.
CL:
Yeah, I had-I had that same fear for a minute `cause I thought oh Jimmie, I said boy you know big brother, he takes precedence over everybody when it comes to music I thought wow what if they decide to get a band and they don't want us or you know somethin' like that you never-you never know what might happen but, um, at the same time too, I know that Stevie'd always wanted to make a record with his brother - always do something that was like a recorded creative statement involving his-he and his brother and so, I was real happy about that `cause I mean reflecting on it, it was, um, he got to do that, he wanted to do it, I was glad that that happened.

["Telephone Song" is played.]

RB:
That's "Telephone Song" from Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan's "Family Style" album with a song co-written by Doyle Bramhall. Big Doyle's importance to the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan cannot be overstated. Bramhall had influenced Stevie's singing style long before Double Trouble even formed. And later, Big Doyle Bramhall would write or co- write many of Stevie's most popular songs. Here's author, Joe Nick Patoski.
JNP:
Doyle is one of a the great role models of-of for Stevie Ray Vaughan of probably more so than any one other than ah Jimmie Vaughan. Stevie was never a very prolific songwriter and in fact I mean he was as much a ah ah an interpreter as he was a ah an original composer. And I think when push came to shove and it was time to come up with some material, he found great comfort in Doyle - things clicked and I think that was the one area where ah, there were some-some real positive benefits out of the "Soul to Soul" session as it really solidified his relationship with Doyle as a ah as-as a songwriting team. It continued into the en- uh up in to the end and I think, ah, Doyle was also an inspiration is ah ah someone who had ah overcome his chemical dependencies. He'd done it before it was cool. When Stevie decided to ah get his own head straight, Doyle was there to offer not only ah ah support as a lyricist but also as a as a friend in ah, um, someone who had walked a mile in-in Stevie's shoes.

["Long Way From Home" is played.]

RB:
You can hear that they were havin' fun - that's Jimmie and Stevie Vaughan with "Long Way From Home" from the album, "Family Style." Comin' up next, you'll hear the recollections of Double Trouble's Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton along with blues man Buddy Guy and the legendary Eric Clapton - all four of whom played with Stevie Ray Vaughan in his final performance. I'm Redbeard "In the Studio" for the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Part 2.

[Commercials]

PART TWO - SEGMENT THREE
RB:
You're back "In the Studio" for the best of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Part 2. I'm Redbeard. The Family style album by the Vaughan brothers had been recorded by the summer of 1990, so Double Trouble was free to hit the road again fresh, rested and tapping newly found energy and sobriety. Two of the marquee dates were back-to-back nights with Eric Clapton and Robert Cray at a large open-air amphitheater between Chicago and Milwaukee known as Alpine Valley. Because the concert site was 50 miles from Chicago, where all the bands were staying, helicopters were used to shuttle the bands and their tour managers over the concert traffic, in and out of Alpine Valley, in the Wisconsin countryside. Blues man Buddy Guy was there, at the invitation of all three guitarists on the bill. I asked Buddy Guy if he saw Stevie Ray Vaughan play on that second night.
Buddy Guy:
Well first of all, I had to see if I-I'd saw from the first lick to the last one because I-I actually wasn't on the show - they invited me up there just as a guest, so I was sittin' on stage from start to finish. And I've seen him play on many nights and this particular night he played incredible well, he played licks that had neither one of us heard before - something about that night so special I don't know if that's because of his death or what but there just something special about that night. I wish they had a recorded it because while Eric was playing he was standing backstage talkin' to me and he said "Man, you know, we gotta get you into the studio, we don't have nobody to steal licks off no mo' so we gonna get you a rec-recording contract that we have to go in there and do it an-an-an do it ourselves" and him and Eric and Robert Cray and, ah, his brother an all them put down around me sayin' you'll be recorded before the year is out.
RB:
Headliner Eric Clapton saw Stevie Ray Vaughan's performance that fateful night too. Like Buddy Guy, Clapton couldn't help but notice that Stevie was in a zone that night. I asked Eric Clapton to describe what would be Stevie's last performance with Double Trouble.
Eric Clapton:
Oh, beyond anything that I could even describe,

["Lenny" begins to play softly in the background]

I think, um, the best way to describe it was just to sit to-to be to have been in my shoes in the dressing room watching the monitor and so I could sit in my dressing room with the door open and hear him from the stage and see him on the TV, knowing I had to go out later and play, and what was happening was I was actually so bowled over and-and so in love with this guy that was playing on stage from the heart completely, you know that I started to feel ashamed of what I was gonna go on and do cause I was gonna go out there and do Cream songs and do little dis-different kinds of music and here was one guy playing one kind of music in a one kind of way and it made me kind of feel "well God are you ever gonna be like this", you know that's the way I felt, "are you ever gonna get to THAT point, the point you are watching right now" and I don't know if any-that many people ever do - that many people ever do - `cause I enjoy in my life playing all kinds of stuff you know I'm not-I don't I-know I play blues probably easier than-than- than anything else, you know everything else is bit of a-a learning experience but I do dabble around in other areas, your rock and roll and country and this and that and songwriting, but, um, none of it has that oneness that Stevie Ray had.

RB:
Ah, in your experience ah, have you seen or heard others get to that point where the emotion that's in the music is almost palpable you almost can touch?
EC:
Very rarely, very rarely. And-and very you know usually it's-it's a question of balance a question of how many things there are in the mix you know whether the-the-the person is in good mental health, whether in good physical shape, whether their motives are clear, you know all of these things that really wrap up the character and the embodiment of the human being with this gift and at state you know the state he's in at that time when you're seeing the performance with all those things in-in-in question, it's a very rare experience. Now Stevie Ray on that night and many nights before, I'm sure, had all of these things, had all of these things in control and was master of EVERYTHING, everything, and now th-you know there are a lot of other people I've seen who have some of them together, but then maybe they had a couple of drinks before they went on, or maybe they got a headache, or maybe they you know they're tired or maybe the-they're in great physical and mental shape and-and living a good life but they haven't got the right musicians in the band or the songs aren't right you see now there's so-so many elements involved and and when we when I when I recall that night there's no, there was nothing required there was no there was nothing missing there was no improve-no room for improvement.

["Lenny" stops playing in the background]

RB:
Here is Eric Clapton's actual introduction of his musical guest at Alpine Valley that night August 26th 1990, for the encore of "Sweet Home Chicago.
EC:
I'd like to bring out, to join me, ah, in truth, the best guitar players in the entire world man. Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan.
RB:
Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton watched from side stage while each of these guitarists took the spotlight in turn, then it was Stevie who stepped up to the plate.
CL:
What I remember-I remember is when he introduced Stevie, introduced him as the world's greatest guitar player, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and when he played his first note, it sounded like he bent the string farther than there was fretboard, it was like the fretboard had been like four feet wide, this note just like shot out, and it was like amazing. Cause once again, I remember thinking just like the very first time I ever heard Stevie it was like you could hear the band but all of a sudden, you just heard this guitar, and this one note was like bigger than everything else that was going on. Just like that just like just like the first time I ever heard him it was like right then it was like this big note and there it was and he really and I thought God, I got these chill bumps it was like this thing ran up my spine I went "Jesus, what is goin' on?" cause I mean I never heard him play a note like that, quite like that.
RB:
After the last note of the guitar superstar's summit, Chris Layton had the opportunity to chat with Stevie backstage while they waited for the helicopters to begin ferrying the large contingent of musicians, tour managers, agents and assistants back to Chicago. The dense fog that had rolled into Alpine Valley wasn't really a topic of conversation.
CL:
The conversation was actually very light, there was nothing heavy in it- it was just like gr- this is a great coupla nights and wasn't it great to be here and talked about (clears throat) the record that he and Jimmie just made, he said yeah - talked about how they had a lot of fun and that was exciting - he was looking forward to that comin' out and lookin' forward to us makin' another record an, he was in great spirits I mean we just had two great nights and we talked about all kinds of stuff, talked about the son that my wife and I were getting ready to have - we didn't know it was a boy - but just anything and everything, we talked for like I guess almost 30 minutes. Then he-he got up he said I'm-I'm gonna go back down to the dressing room for a minute and I don't know, five, maybe five minutes or so later, he came back up and he had his-his uh jacket on, he had his bags and he kinda I think he was just gonna walk not right by me cause he was at that path, but he was making this turn and I said "Hey" I said, " what are you doin'?" And he said "I'm gonna go back to Chicago." I said "Well, now? And he said, "Yeah, I-I gotta get back I want to call J-Janna" who was his girlfriend who was in New York

["Tick Tock" begins to play]

and I thought `Jeez you could actually call her anywhere and then call her later,' this is what I was thinkin' but he said he turned he kinda took another step and then he turned around and said he said "call me when you get back." Then he said "I love you" and kinda gave me that wink of the eye that he would do and then he was gone and that was the last time I saw him and he just disappeared into the night.

["Tick Tock" is played.]

RB:
The Vaughan Brothers from "Family Style." Tommy Shannon, Double Trouble's bass player had shuttled back to Chicago by helicopter even before Clapton's encore while Layton had left on yet another chopper much later than Stevie Vaughan. I asked Tommy when he first knew that something was terribly wrong.

["Little Wing" starts to play in background.]

TS:
I didn't find out `'til the next morning and our manager Alex Hodges called me, whew - I mean-I mean is a I can't put in words how I felt you know, he said one of the helicopters went down last night that Stevie was in and they reported no survivors and, um, that's probably the worst moment of my li-entire life, I mean we shared things we'd never tell anybody else - ever. You know, he was the best friend I ever had.
CL:
Tommy called me, he said that we needed to have a-a band meeting in Skip Rickert's room our tour manager I thought this is something's not right - there's you don't have band meetings it was real late we didn't get back to the hotel 'til like God after five maybe 5:30 in the morning from the flight and it was a-a little while later and I walked in everybody was starting to assemble and I thought this is just wrong.
TS:
Yeah, seven o'clock in the morning.
CL:
The phone rang, we got on and I think Alex was, well as I remember it, he was trying to be as gentle as possible, said he was with Roger Forrester, Eric's manager and that-that one of the helicopters, the one that Stevie was on, didn't make it back, it was 98% - that's the way I remember him sayin' - 98% certain that there was no survivors and I thought this can't be. I remember I went and ran and got security and made them open Stevie's door just to prove that this was like a-a nightmare. `Member went and opened the door and the door opened up and there's the bed was untouched - he had never made it back. The radio was on like when they do turn-down service and I heard the first report of it over the radio right then as I was standin' by his bed and I uh . . .
RB:
Three of Eric Clapton's closest associates along with the helicopter pilot never made it back either. It was August 27, exactly four years to the day that Stevie's father had passed away. But it was also three years, 317 days and 40 minutes of redemption and during that time, Stevie made the greatest music of his career. Who knows how many lives he changed by his courageous victory over substance abuse? There are some of us who truly believe that there are fates worse than death. When I think of Stevie Vaughan's too-short time among us, I'm reminded of a quote from my youth: A coward dies a thousand times but the valiant tastes of death but once.

["Little Wing" is played.]

RB:
Written by Jimi Hendrix and performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, that's "Little Wing," from the Grammy award-winning album, "The Sky is Crying," compiled by Stevie's big brother Jimmie. I'm Redbeard. We'll be back "In the Studio" after this.
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