Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan’s musical abilities and sense of style were obvious from an early age. Growing up in Oak Cliff, just south of downtown Dallas, TX., he was weaned on classic Top 40 radio, vintage blues, early rock’n’roll and the deepest rhythm and blues and coolest jazz of the day.
When he was sidelined by a football injury at the age of 13, a family friend gave Vaughan a guitar to occupy him during his recuperation. From the moment Vaughan’s fingers touched the fret board, it was obvious that he was a natural talent. He also began tutoring his younger brother Stevie, who would cite Jimmie as his biggest inspiration and influence throughout his own career.
At 15, Vaughan started his first band, The Swinging Pendulums, and was soon playing the rough and tumble Dallas nightclub scene. By the time he hit 16, Vaughan joined The Chessman,who became the area’s top musical attraction, eventually opening concerts in Dallas for Jimi Hendrix. After hearing Muddy Waters and Freddie King play in Dallas, Vaughan began to delve deep into the blues.
In 1969, Vaughan helped found Texas Storm, a group that eschewed Top 40 covers for blues and soul with a Texas accent. He also helped jump start his brother Stevie’s career when the younger Vaughan joined Texas Storm on bass. Vaughan founded The Fabulous Thunderbirds with Kim Wilson in the mid 1970s.
When Antone’s nightclub opened in Austin in August of 1975, the Thunderbirds became the house band, sharing the stage and jamming with such blues greats as Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Albert King and a host of others, all of whom recognized Vaughan as the man who would keep the music they developed alive for future generations.
Vaughan recorded eight albums with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, two Grammy Awards and years of worldwide touring. Prior to leaving the group in 1990, Vaughan had joined up with his brother Stevie to record Family Style.
Then in August, 1990, just a few weeks prior to the album’s release, Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin. The tragedy devastated Jimmie, who retreated from touring and recording. Eventually, Vaughan’s friend Eric Clapton invited him to open a series of 16 special concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
After the warm reception for his solo debut at the Clapton shows in early 1993, Vaughan started recording his first solo album. The resulting disc, Strange Pleasures, was produced by Nile Rodgers (who worked with the Vaughan brothers on Family Style), featured 11 songswritten or co-written by Jimmie, and was dedicated to Stevie Ray and the recently-deceased Albert Collins. It debuted at Number One on the Billboard Heatseeker Chart, won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
His next album, 1998’s Out There, solidified Vaughan’s status as a solo artist, thanks to a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the song Ironic Twist.
Jimmie Vaughan’s style as a player, songwriter and bandleader can be thought of as an amalgamation of so many influences. Known for his deceptively simple yet complex attack, his clean, uncluttered style capitalizes on conveying the emotion and message within the music. He utilizes raw emotion, simplicity, and an elegance that is powerful and accessible, yet communicates exactly what he feels inside.
It’s an approach that has earned him the respect of many of the greats of contemporary music, and guest appearances on such albums as B.B. King and Eric Clapton’s Riding With The King, Bob Dylan’s Under The Red Sky, Willie Nelson’s Milk Cow Blues, Carlos Santana’s Havana Moon and Don Henley’s Inside Job.
Now, with his third solo release and Artemis Records debut, Do You Get The Blues?, Vaughan has fashioned his most compelling and appealing musical statement yet, creating a rich and variegated masterpiece of 21st Century rhythm and blues. It’s clear that Do You Get The Blues? is a tour de force that draws from Jimmie Vaughan’s vast reservoir of musical traditions to create a modern classic.