MusicRadar

Blues Week continues with blues legend Jimmie Vaughan talking on his new album plus his memories of his late brother, Stevie Ray. Keep it locked with MusicRadar for more classic SRV interviews when later this week, we talk to Double Trouble's Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon, Robert Cray and SRV's guitar tech Rene Martinez about their time with the late blues great.

Jimmie Vaughan plays blues, ballads and many of his favorite songs on his new album, so when it came time to title the record, he called it, appropriately, Plays Blues, Ballads And Favorites. "Well, that's what I do," he says, laughing. "The title just seemed to fit."

True to its billing, Jimmie Vaughan covers standards popularized by artists such as Little Richard, Jimmy Reed, Willie Nelson, Roy Milton and Roscoe Gordon on what is his first release in nine years (his last was 2001's Do You Get the Blues?). "It's a challenge to do other people's songs," says Vaughan, whose sole original on the CD is the spunky instrumental Comin' & Goin'. "With covers, you feel as though you'll never get the song just right. But when you listen back and it sounds good, hey, that's pretty fun."

It's a bit startling to hear Vaughan say the word 'fun' when you consider that the very idea of enjoying himself, or just getting through life, was all but unfathomable 20 years ago when, on 27 August 1990, his younger brother Stevie Ray perished in a tragic helicopter crash after a performance in East Troy, Wisconsin.

For the elder Vaughan, whom his celebrated sibling worshipped, the blow was soul crushing. "For a while there, I was pretty lost," he says. "It took me some time to gain the perspective to realize that I had to move on and live my life. It was hard, though. Still is. A big part of me was gone in an instant. Life isn't supposed to be like that."

Since he was a teenager in his hometown of Dallas, Texas, Vaughan's existence revolved around the guitar and the study of blues greats such as Freddie King and Johnny "Guitar" Watson. He became a young hotshot, playing clubs (and even opening for Jimi Hendrix!) before he was old enough to drive. Stevie, three years Jimmie's junior, was inspired to follow in his brother's footsteps. "He picked up the guitar after I did," says Jimmie, "but he was a fast learner."

So fast that, by the time Stevie joined his brother in the vibrant music town of Austin, Texas, his playing skills were already on par with Jimmie's. The two Stat-toting Vaughan brothers made a lot of noise in Austin - Jimmie in the critically acclaimed Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie in a variety of bands that would eventually morph into Double Trouble. Everybody expected Jimmie to hit the big-time first, but ironically, Stevie's 1983 debut, Texas Flood, would instead make the world take notice - and in the process, pave the way for the T-Birds' success three years later with hits like Tuff Enough and Powerful Stuff.

Jimmie left the T-Birds in 1989 and recorded the long-awaited album Family Style with Stevie. The two brothers, after years of struggle, were sitting atop the blues-rock world when tragedy struck. As is often the case, when an artist dies young, Stevie Ray Vaughan became a legend. Jimmie, meanwhile, had to learn to go it alone, which meant accepting the cards that he had been dealt while rediscovering his love of music.

In the following interview, Jimmie Vaughan talks about his new album, how he's just as excited to play the guitar as ever, recalls his surreal encounter with Jimi Hendrix and speaks movingly about his beloved brother, Stevie Ray.

Why so long between records? And what made you decide to do an album of mostly cover tunes?

"Well, the biggest reason for the gap is because I got married and had identical twin daughters. They've occupied a large chunk of my time, but it's all good. Basically, I've been living life and trying to be happy. You have to achieve some sort of balance between work and everything else - for far too long, I was all about work.

"Plus, I've always had a love-hate relationship with making records. I never liked the idea of going in the studio until I felt like I really wanted do. Why make a record just 'cause someone says you have to? That makes no sense. You make a record when you have something you want to say."

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