Stevie Ray Vaughan

A direct replica of Stevie Ray Vaughan's primary guitar. In 1940 "San Antonio Rose" sold a million records and became the signature song of The Texas Playboys. In 2004, Fender releases the Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute Model "Number One" Stratocaster Guitar (http://www.fender.com/misc/winternamm2004/srv_tribute/index.html). With its jazz sophistication and blues influence, plus improvised scats and wisecrack commentary by Wills, the band became the first superstars of the genre. In 1994, the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue was erected at Auditorium Shores on Town Lake in Austin, Texas. The addition of steel guitar wiz Leon McAuliffe provided the final ingredient to the development of western swing. As of 2004, this model is still in production. By 1935 Wills had added horn and reed players to the Playboys and the band numbered 13.

In 1992, Fender released the Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster, designed along with Stevie before his death. After relocating the band to Waco, then Oklahoma City, Wills eventually settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO radio station. In 1991, Texas governor Ann Richards proclaimed October 3, Vaughan's birthday, to be "Stevie Ray Vaughan Day.". The band split up though, with Wills going on to form The Texas Playboys with new singer Tommy Duncan while Milton Brown formed his own band, Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies. Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas. Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing. Jimmie Vaughan would later co-write and record a song in tribute to his brother and other late blues guitarists, entitled "Six Strings Down". In 1930 Milton Brown joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, now called the Light Crust Doughboys due to radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flower.

1991's The Sky is Crying was the first of several posthumous Vaughan releases with chart success. In Fort Worth Wills met Herman Arnspinger and formed The Wills Fiddle Band. A duet album, Family Style, with his brother, Jimmie Vaughan (also a noted blues-rock guitarist and former member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds) was released in September 1990 after Stevie's death and was a popular hit. He headed to Fort Worth to pursue a career in music. Vaughan's comeback was cut tragically short when, in the early morning of August 27, 1990, he was killed when a helicopter he was riding in crashed near East Troy, Wisconsin following a concert at the Alpine Valley music theater where he had appeared earlier in the evening with Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. He regularly entered fiddle contests in West Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma and soon the fiddle had replaced the scissors in the young Wills' imagination. Following his return, Vaughan recorded In Step (1989), another critically acclaimed disc that won a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Record. In his 20s 'Bob' attended barber school, got married, and moved to Turkey, Texas, to be a barber.

He checked into rehab in Georgia later that year. He was born near Kosse, Texas; his father was a fiddle player who taught the young Wills to play the fiddle and the mandolin. Drug addiction and alcoholism took a toll on Vaughan, and in the mid 1980s, he collapsed, while on tour in 1986. James Robert (Bob) Wills (March 6, 1905 - May 13, 1975) was an American comedian and country musician. The debut was followed by equally successful followups Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984) and Soul to Soul (1985). Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble's debut album was released in 1983; the critically acclaimed Texas Flood (produced by John Hammond) featured the top-20 hit "Pride and Joy" and sold well in both blues and rock circles.

Bowie first caught Vaughan at the Montreux Jazz Festival where he was initially booed by many who disliked his hard blues sound. Vaughan is most notably featured on Bowie's album Let's Dance, in the songs "Let's Dance" and "China Girl.". A popular local draw, Vaughan soon attracted attention from David Bowie and Jackson Browne, and he played on albums with both. After playing in a series of bands, Dallas-native Vaughan formed the blues-rock combo Double Trouble with drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon in the late 1970s. His playing style is often compared to that of Jimi Hendrix, though such comparisons often inspire sharp debate among music fans.

Stevie Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954–August 27, 1990) was an American blues guitar legend, known as one of the most influential electric blues musicians in history. Greatest Hits (1995). In The Beginning (1992). The Sky Is Crying (1991).

In Step (1989). Live Alive! (1986). Soul to Soul (1985). Couldn't Stand the Weather (1984).

Texas Flood (1983).