As much as I hate the Longhorns right now, I gotta admit, I am a fan of Austin City Limits. Here’s one of the chief reasons why:

While there are more guitar legends out there than I can count, SRV is my all-time favorite. In my UGA days, my friends and I had a little Greek house combo named Southbound, where we played a range of covers from Milledge to Washington Street and Allen’s. I played bass so I’m not going to try to say I was emulating him, but my best friend, whose mom died when he was young and he turned to the guitar as therapy, could absolutely rip a SRV riff or two, to the point where we could play Pride and Joy and some light Allman Brothers songs, too. We never aspired to make it more than it was – us having fun and getting free drinks while we were at it.

Pairing up with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums, Stevie was the engine of the three piece blues band, Double Trouble. Reese Wynans also accompanied the trio on piano/keyboards as the band gained popularity in the 1980s.

Their breakout, after first pairing up in the late 70s, was a concert at the Montreux Blues Festival in 1982. If you get a copy of his recording from Montreux, it’s interesting to listen to the songs recorded in 82 and hold them to the 85 songs, most notably the attendees booing him in 1982. Turned out it wasn’t all bad, as David Bowie heard him and commissioned him to do work on Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”, and Double Trouble began to experience success forward until his death in 1990 in a helicopter crash.

More amazingly, many of Vaughan recordings were during a period of time where he was struggling with drugs and alcohol, dealing with the pressures of fame and his marriage to his wife, Lenora “Lenny” Bailey.

That was in 1983, prior to Vaughan getting sober in 1986. If you can get your hands on it, the video is from a concert video of Double Trouble Live at El Mocambo. When I got a hold of this during our band days, I was hooked and watched it on repeat at the end of some long evenings into the morning hours after shows. Chiefly because of this:

Dial it up to the 7:30 mark if you’re short on time…holy cow. Vaughan was known for playing behind his back, his head, and with his teeth, some arguing it as tribute to Jimi Hendrix. He also has a few videos out there where he has to change guitars midstream thanks to a stage hand, usually without missing a beat. To say that is odd, because SRV favored the heavier gauges of strings and has calloused fingers and hands as a result of his bending and vibrato intensity as a blues guitarist.

Here’s hoping I get to dial it up early in the morning this Sunday…hopefully with a smile on my face and a Georgia W on my mind.