Stevie Ray plays Number One
while sitting on the front of an old
locomotive during a visit to New
Zealand in February 1988.
Photo courtesy of Janna LeBlancAs one of the most
influential guitarists
to ever pick up a
Strat, Stevie Ray Vaughan
left a Texas-sized mark on
guitardom that is still felt
decades after his untimely
passing on August 27,
1990. In the early ’80s, his
unique brand of Hendrixand
Albert King-inspired
wailing expanded outside
his native Lone Star state,
and soon he was on the
road and rubbing elbows
with his heroes. In Craig
Hopkins’ new book, Stevie
Ray Vaughan: Day by Day,
Night After Night - His Final
Years, 1983-1990 [Backbeat
Books], you can see a virtual
day-by-day account
of highlights from the last
seven years of SRV’s life.
Hopkins conducted several
hundred interviews with
many of Vaughan’s closest
friends and family in an effort
to create the definitive
work on Vaughan’s legacy.
In this exclusive excerpt,
you’ll see rare photos of his
gear and read about his first
gig with a Dumble amp, the
story behind the guitar he
designed, and the night he
broke the neck on his
Number One Strat.
August 27, 1983 at the Reading Festival in England. © Mark HawkerAugust 22: The Palace, Hollywood, CA.
First gig with Dumble amplifiers.
Byron’s Diary [Ed. note: Byron Barr was SRV’s tech during this period] for August 22: “Probably
the plushest club I’ve been in yet. Sell out. First gig with Dumble amps. Pretty rough, but we
still got great reviews.”
Stevie’s was one of very few Steel String Singers made. It was a “clean,” loud amp (100
or 150 W) with no overdrive section. The standard model used 12AX7 preamplifier tubes
and 6L6 power amplifier tubes and a standard Dumble tonestack with an optional tonefilter.
CBS Records convention March 6, 1984, with Jeff Beck (and Fran Christina of the Thunderbirds on drums with Chris). © Jean Krettler/Sony MusicMarch 6: CBS Records
Convention in Honolulu, HI
with Jeff Beck
Jack Chase, CBS Records: “That was a big shot or the
rest of CBS Records and International to see who Stevie
was.” Stevie Ray Vaughan: “We all met up in Hawaii to do
this CBS convention, and we rehearsed a couple of times
and smoked cigarettes and went crazy and then went and
played and just had a blast! [Beck] did this solo in Hawaii
that night that was unbelievable. It actually took me watching
it on videotape for about a month to really grasp what
he played. And whether he’s pulling our leg and he really
knows what he’s doing before he does it, I don’t know. It
doesn’t really matter. But he finished this solo and got this
big grin on his face and stuck his hand in his pocket and
stood there for a while like, ‘You can put that one in the
bank.’ It was amazing.”
Setlist
Scuttle Buttin’
Testify
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
Pride and Joy
Tin Pan Alley
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Love Struck Baby
Couldn’t Stand the Weather
The Things (That) I Used to do
(w/ Jimmie Vaughan)
You Were Wrong (Angela
Strehli vocal, with Jimmie)
Say You Will (Strehli)
Stang’s Swang
Third Stone from the Sun
Wham! (w/ Jeff Beck and Jimmie)
Hawaiian Isle (w/ Beck)
Don’t Fall for Me (w/ All)
Jeff ’s Boogie (w/ Beck)
Jim Hamilton presenting Stevie his new guitar. Photo courtesy of Jim Hamilton