Well before his 1990 death, when his helicopter crashed after playing Alpine Valley, Stevie Ray Vaughan had become blues-rock’s great white hope. The Austin-based guitarist was inspired by fiery blues-steeped players such as Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny “Guitar” Watson. In an era when arena rock fans were awed by instrumental pyrotechnics, Vaughan filled stadiums with Bic-flashing concert goers.
Like most other figures of the rock era, Vaughan has lately attracted obsessive fans keen to document every day of his career. One of them, Craig Hopkins, has produced an attractive hardcover coffee table book, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Day by Day, Night by Night, His Early Years, 1954-1982 (Backbeat Books). Chock full of rare photographs and reproductions of posters, Day by Day is obviously a labor of love as it chronicles his almost ceaseless gigging with breaks along the way for commentary and interviews with friends, fans and colleagues. Who knew that Stevie Vaughan, as he was known until the ‘80s, opened shows for Kiss on their first tour. “Of course, we didn’t make any money,” remembers a member of his band at the time, the Nightcrawlers.
Volume 2, bringing the story to its unfortunate close, is no doubt in the works.
