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June 17, 2007
RIP SRV
YouTube Video Here
There's always a lot of talk about the power of the Devil in the blues scene. From Robert Johnson sellin' his soul to the Dark Lord himself to various musicians claiming women are the Devil, it's safe to say that the blues scene willfully stroked the cheek of Satan, because there's got to be something bad behind your bad times besides just plain ol' gris-gris.
But I submit that if there truly is a God, he'd be the one who made Stevie Ray Vaughan one shit-hot musician. Of all the musicians who died way too soon, this guy's passing hit a little too close to home. I grew up listening to him(thanks Mom!) and I remember asking my mom "Can we listen to Stevie?" whenever we'd be hanging around listening to music. When that chopper crashed, I cried like a baby. Hell, I was a baby. Not even six years old, but somehow I still felt like the world had just lost a musical force to be reckoned with.
Years later, I revisited all of his material(with a little bit of psychotropic help, mind you, but still revisited) and was again blown away by how astonishing of a musician he was. The gravitas of his music, some of the power lent to some of his performances...positively electric. Ironically enough, one of my absolute favorite performances of his isn't one of his lightning-fingered sonic guitar assaults, but his humble yet amazingly powerful acoustic turn of 'Life by the Drop' from 'The Sky is Crying'. Still gives me chills every goddamn time I hear it.
We'll be coming up on the 17th anniversary of his death here soon, but I don't want to dwell on that. He deserves to be immortalized as he was...a simple guy who happened to reach godhood whenever his fingers touched a guitar. That's what he deserves, and that's what generations of aspiring guitarists deserve. RIP, Stevie. Hope you and Jimi are rocking the fuck out in the afterlife, and let that Jeff Buckley kid in for a few turns at vocals. I hear he was pretty good. :P
Posted by Jake at June 17, 2007 09:15 PM
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