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[light music]

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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-[blues guitar music]
-[man singing]

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[narrator] In March of 2017,
the Bob Bullock Texas
History Museum held

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an exhibition dedicated
to Texas guitarist,
Stevie Ray Vaughan.

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Although he's been gone
for nearly 27 years,
Stevie has millions of fans

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who were not even born
when he was at the height
of his popularity.

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Stevie's rise to the top was
preceded by his older brother
Jimmie,

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who served as a role model
and influenced

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the younger Vaughn brother
in so many ways.

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Their success represented
the dreams of many of my fellow
baby boomers

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to somehow become
a rock and roll star,
a true guitar hero.

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When the Beatles appeared
on the Ed Sullivan Show

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on February 9th, 1964,
the whole world was watching.

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For myself and millions
of other male baby boomers,

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that performance
changed our lives
and our worldview.

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It showed us there was now
a whole new way to meet girls.

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Because up until The Beatles,
you had to play football
or be one of the cool kids.

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Now you just had to play
in a band.

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But before the Beatles,
that wasn't even a possibility.

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Until then,
Elvis was rock and roll.

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But to be like Elvis, you had
to be good looking.

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And the only problem was
that most of us just weren't
that attractive.

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But all that changed
with Ringo.

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Ringo wasn't pretty
like John or Paul,

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but he was in a rock
and roll band.

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And the girls loved him.

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The next morning,
millions of us bought
electric guitars

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and started practicing
in our basements,

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garages, or living rooms,
dreaming of making it big.

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But in the end,
only a minuscule number
actually got there.

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Down in the Dallas neighborhood
of Oak Cliff,

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two brothers were part
of this wave.

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And from that small home
on Glenfield Avenue,

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those two brothers went on
to win Grammy awards

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and perform
alongside rock and roll
legends like David Bowie,

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Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton,
Nile Rodgers and Jimi Hendrix.

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There were Jimmie
and his little brother,
Stevie Vaughan.

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And in the words
of Lou Ann Barton,

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they came from nowhere
and went everywhere.

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[man] Roll it, and I'll just
feel something.

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["Hard to Be"
by the Vaughan Brothers]

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♪ It's hard to be ♪

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♪ It's hard for me
To keep arm's length
From my baby ♪

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♪ Whoa, can't you see ♪

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♪ When I'm away from her
It sho' nuf' drives me crazy ♪

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♪ Oh, something inside of me
When she's gone
I miss her so ♪

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♪ I want to tell her
How I feel ♪

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[narrator] In 1963,
America was still enjoying
the fruits of the postwar boom.

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Millions of GIs had returned
from Europe and the Pacific

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to marry, settle down and raise
a family.

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The GI Bill provided them
with low-cost home loans,
and a housing boom took off.

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In Oak Cliff, a neighborhood
just south of downtown Dallas,

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a businessman named Angus Wynne
started a planned development
called Wynnewood.

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It featured thousands
of low-cost, two-bedroom
tract homes

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that sold almost as fast
as he could build them

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and one of the country's
first shopping centers,
Wynnewood Village.

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60 years later, most of those
homes are still in use,
as is Wynnewood Village.

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One of these houses was at 2755
Glenfield Avenue

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on a side street
off of Hampton Road,
near Kiest Park.

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It was here that Jim
and Martha Vaughan settled down

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and raised their two sons,
Jimmie and Stevie.

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There wasn't anything
outstanding about
the little house.

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It looked just like
all the others around it.

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As a matter of fact,
in the 1950s, most of America
looked the same.

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We all lived in two-parent
households,

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watched the same three
TV channels,

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four if you lived in the city
that had what they called
educational TV,

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and we shared one landline
telephone

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and went to the nearest
public school.

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And we pretty much looked
and dressed the same.

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[Jimmie]
Our uncles played music,
and our parents danced,

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and they played dominoes,
and they worked every day.

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We were like just totally
normal kids, going to school

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and riding our bicycles,
you know, playing
in the backyard.

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Didn't have any idea
about any of this stuff.

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You know,
we had a great, great childhood.

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[narrator] One person who saw
the Vaughan brothers grow up
was their cousin, Connie Trent.

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After losing both parents
at the age of seven,

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she was adopted by Preston
and May Vaughan.

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[Connie] They all hung out
together, and they went
to what they called honky tonks.

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And this picture right here,
this is my mother.

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That's my father.

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That's Big Jim, or Jim Vaughan.

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And there's my Aunt May
and Uncle Preston.

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It was pretty much all
two-parent families,
that's just the way it was.

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As far as dressing the same,
everyone wore the same styles.

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It was a time period
when the mothers
were still at home,

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you know,
and they made sure
that the kids kept busy,

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'cause they wanted to keep
them out of trouble.

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[narrator] But all that changed
with the Beatles.

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Boys started wearing their hair
longer,

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and every town enjoyed
a burst of rock bands

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that sprang up like mushrooms
after rain.

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Rock and roll dreams reached
all the way, even into rural
America.

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At the same time,
Oak Cliff, Texas was
undergoing a transformation.

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So many children were born
to all of the returning
World War II GIs

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that a building boom
of new schools

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took place to accommodate
the growing enrollment.

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For over 30-- almost 30 years,

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there had been no new high
schools or junior highs built
in Oak Cliff.

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And starting in 1952
when South Oak Cliff opened,
over the next about 14 years,

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there were four large high
schools built and six junior
high schools built.

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So, everything really expanded.

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Kimball opened in the fall
of '59,

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and then Carter opened
in the fall of '66.

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[narrator] Both Carter
and Kimball High

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produced a bumper crop
of budding guitar heroes.

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They drew inspiration
from a long list of
Oak Cliff artists

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and musicians
who went before them,

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including
Michael Martin Murphey,
T-Bone Walker,

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B.W. Stevenson, Terry Southern
and Yvonne Craig.

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Yes, Batgirl
was from Oak Cliff, Texas.

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Oak Cliff
was both an artist factory
and a band of misfits.

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On the one hand,
you had Terry Southern
and Yvonne Craig,

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while on the other hand,
you had Lee Harvey Oswald
and Bonnie and Clyde.

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In that day, Dallas, Texas
was also the music mecca
of the Southwest.

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Elvis had played the state fair
of Texas,

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while Buddy Holly played
the infamous Sportatorium

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and then drove over to Oak
Cliff with the Crickets
to buy his first motorcycle.

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So, Oak Cliff was cranking out
creative types and criminals.

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It was an interesting
dichotomy.

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In the 1960s, most of us
sat glued to our TV sets

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to watch shows like Shindig,

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Hullabaloo or Dick Clark's
Where the Action Is.

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We went to the movie theaters
to see The Beatles

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inA Hard Day's Night
orThe T.A.M.I. Show.

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Mainly, we wanted
to be anywhere else
but where we were.

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It seemed as if all the action
and excitement

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was happening
out in Southern California

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or New York City
where everything was cool.

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We felt like we were missing
out on something.

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And because we couldn't
get there, we did the next
best thing.

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We went to teen clubs.

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I went to this church

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called Glen Oaks
Methodist Church on Polk Street.

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And they would have
sock hops on Friday
and Saturday nights

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to try to keep us off
the streets.

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And so, they would have
these bands come in,

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of all high school bands
from Oak Cliff.

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And so there was a guy named
Seab Meador in one of the bands,

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Danny Sanchez
was in one of the bands,

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Stevie Ray Vaughan was in one
of the bands.

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Jimmie Vaughan was in one
of the bands.

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So, all these famous
guitar players then,

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00:09:01,845 --> 00:09:05,196
they were
even notable back then--
is we were kids.

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If somebody was famous
a couple of years older than
you, it was a big deal.

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We were too young to go out

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and go to any
of the grown-up clubs,
so to speak.

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You know,
the ones that served alcohol,
you just couldn't get in.

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So, these were places
in Oak Cliff where teenagers
could come

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00:09:18,383 --> 00:09:22,213
and have a good time,
and dance and listen
to music.

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00:09:22,257 --> 00:09:24,259
And of course,
instead of having deejays then,

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00:09:24,302 --> 00:09:27,001
we would have live bands
or combos of, you know,

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00:09:27,044 --> 00:09:30,308
little bands that-- garage bands
that kids in the neighborhood
put together.

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And those that had gotten good
would play at these places,

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and would play
at the school sock hops,
and we would play it,

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at Candy's Flare,
we'd play the church dances
and things like that.

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During the week
on Fridays, Stockard,
where Jimmie went at the time,

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had a sock hop in the gym,
7:00 in the morning
every Friday, 10 cents,

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you can ask Jimmie.
He says, "It's the cheapest
10-cents dance in town."

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[narrator] Dallas even
produced its own version
of American Bandstand,

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a weekly dance show broadcast
live from North Park Mall
calledSump'n Else.

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00:10:02,514 --> 00:10:04,299
These are the Five Americans
with "Western Union,"

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00:10:04,342 --> 00:10:05,735
would you join me in a welcome

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00:10:05,779 --> 00:10:07,563
for our own Five Americans,
here they are.

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[applause]

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[music playing]

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♪ Things went wrong today
And bad news came my way ♪

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♪ I woke up to find
That I had blew my mind ♪

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[narrator] In short, there was
a huge scene going on in Dallas
and Fort Worth,

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00:10:37,419 --> 00:10:40,727
but you
would have never known it
unless you lived there.

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The Internet, cell phones,
Facebook, texting,

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00:10:44,513 --> 00:10:46,950
and social media
had not been invented yet,

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so going viral
was out of the question.

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All that we had to spread
the word were landline phones,

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and most of us only had
one phone at home

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that we had to share
with our parents.

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The entire
teen club phenomenon
was our version of Facebook.

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00:11:02,966 --> 00:11:05,099
This was how you met girls.

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00:11:05,142 --> 00:11:06,753
You had to get out
of your house,

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00:11:06,796 --> 00:11:08,929
go to wherever the kids
were meeting up,

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00:11:08,972 --> 00:11:11,714
and walk up to a girl
and ask her to dance.

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00:11:11,758 --> 00:11:13,411
You couldn't do it
on the Internet.

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00:11:13,455 --> 00:11:15,936
You had to get off your couch
and do it.

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00:11:15,979 --> 00:11:18,678
But because we were all
too young to drive,

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00:11:18,721 --> 00:11:20,897
we had to have our parents
drive us to the club,

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00:11:20,941 --> 00:11:24,553
and then hopefully drop us off
and pick us up.

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[Connie] A lot of them
had station wagons,
so they could pile in

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00:11:27,643 --> 00:11:31,342
a lot of kids and take them
to Oak Cliff Country Club
or to the sock hops

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00:11:31,386 --> 00:11:34,606
at Glen Oaks Methodist Church
or to Candy's Flare.

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00:11:35,042 --> 00:11:39,481
And I personally
begged my aunt to take me

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00:11:39,524 --> 00:11:44,965
whenever I knew
Stevie was going to be playing
or Jimmie.

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00:11:45,008 --> 00:11:46,706
[narrator] It was into this
rock and roll wave

196
00:11:46,749 --> 00:11:48,533
that an 11-year-old kid
in Oak Cliff

197
00:11:48,577 --> 00:11:51,798
got a rather unlikely
introduction to the guitar.

198
00:11:51,841 --> 00:11:53,495
My friend at school told me,

199
00:11:53,538 --> 00:11:57,020
he said, "If you want to get
a girlfriend

200
00:11:57,499 --> 00:12:00,067
or be popular with the girls,
you're going to have to
play football."

201
00:12:01,329 --> 00:12:03,113
Said, "There's just no way
around it."

202
00:12:03,157 --> 00:12:05,376
He said,
"Look at all these guys,
this is what they do."

203
00:12:05,942 --> 00:12:07,988
And he said,
"Nobody really cares
about football.

204
00:12:08,031 --> 00:12:11,687
They just want a girlfriend."
I was like, "Okay, that's sounds
like me."

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00:12:11,731 --> 00:12:16,344
[chuckles] You know?
So, I went to football practice
and, uh...

206
00:12:16,953 --> 00:12:18,912
uh, the guy said, "What do you
want to go out for?"

207
00:12:18,955 --> 00:12:20,565
And I said,
"Well, I don't know."

208
00:12:20,609 --> 00:12:23,220
I didn't really play football,
but I went anyway.

209
00:12:23,264 --> 00:12:25,527
So, they called my name.
Finally.

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00:12:25,570 --> 00:12:29,487
I'm the last guy,
they call my name
and I have to go out for a pass.

211
00:12:30,227 --> 00:12:33,535
So, I mysteriously
catch this pass,

212
00:12:34,144 --> 00:12:36,625
and all the football players
jumped on me,

213
00:12:37,321 --> 00:12:39,889
tackled me,
and I broke my collarbone,

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00:12:42,196 --> 00:12:45,460
first day, first practice.

215
00:12:45,503 --> 00:12:47,114
And so I had to go
to the doctor,

216
00:12:47,157 --> 00:12:50,421
and they put one of those
slings on--

217
00:12:50,465 --> 00:12:52,423
they called 'em a wingie.

218
00:12:52,467 --> 00:12:54,208
So I was at home
for three months,

219
00:12:54,251 --> 00:12:57,167
and my dad got a guitar
for 50 bucks

220
00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,388
and gave to me.
It had three strings on it.

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00:13:00,431 --> 00:13:01,911
It was about like this one.

222
00:13:03,826 --> 00:13:07,134
He said, "Here, I don't know
what we're going to do with you
for three months."

223
00:13:07,177 --> 00:13:11,834
But he said, "Here, play this,
maybe this will keep you
out of trouble."

224
00:13:11,878 --> 00:13:13,923
And I've been playing guitar
ever since.

225
00:13:13,967 --> 00:13:17,274
The first thing I learned was--
instead of going like this...

226
00:13:20,582 --> 00:13:21,888
...which is what everybody
wants to learn

227
00:13:21,931 --> 00:13:23,759
when they first start,
if you're a kid.

228
00:13:23,803 --> 00:13:26,109
Back then in the fifties.
I did it backwards.

229
00:13:26,153 --> 00:13:28,111
I didn't know, and I went...

230
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:34,552
and so like the first couple of
days, I was like, I was like,
"Damn!"

231
00:13:35,118 --> 00:13:37,294
I was thinking, "Man,
I'm going to make records
and everything."

232
00:13:37,729 --> 00:13:40,341
So, I started getting pretty
good on the guitar.

233
00:13:40,863 --> 00:13:43,300
And so, in the meantime,

234
00:13:43,344 --> 00:13:46,869
my dad gave
my uncle 50 bucks
for an electric guitar.

235
00:13:46,913 --> 00:13:50,264
It had one pickup.
It was a three-quarter Gibson,

236
00:13:51,613 --> 00:13:53,267
no cutaways,

237
00:13:53,310 --> 00:13:56,879
and that was my guitar
for a couple of years.

238
00:13:57,401 --> 00:14:01,536
My dad knew
that I needed a real fancy
electric guitar.

239
00:14:01,579 --> 00:14:04,495
So, he said, "Come on, son,
look, we're going to get you
a new guitar today."

240
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,412
I said, "All right." So, we went
down to McCord's Music,

241
00:14:08,456 --> 00:14:12,155
I think it was.
Downtown Dallas.

242
00:14:12,199 --> 00:14:14,854
He said-- we went in there
and he goes,
"Which one do you want?"

243
00:14:15,550 --> 00:14:17,900
I said,
"Well, I like those up there."

244
00:14:17,944 --> 00:14:20,729
You know, there was a Gretsch
or something.

245
00:14:21,686 --> 00:14:24,341
So they got it down
and I played it and everything.

246
00:14:24,385 --> 00:14:29,433
And so, my dad tells the guy,
"Come on, let's go back here
and sign up for it."

247
00:14:30,130 --> 00:14:33,002
So, they went back there,
and they turned his credit down.

248
00:14:35,091 --> 00:14:36,092
And so...

249
00:14:38,051 --> 00:14:41,706
You know, it wasn't a big deal
to me, but it was--
he was embarrassed.

250
00:14:42,533 --> 00:14:44,709
So, we went-- we just went
to another place,

251
00:14:44,753 --> 00:14:46,755
and we went to Arnold
and Morgan Music,

252
00:14:47,277 --> 00:14:50,585
which was the big music store
out in Garland.

253
00:14:51,542 --> 00:14:54,067
And we went in there.

254
00:14:54,589 --> 00:14:58,158
They had a whole row
of Telecasters.

255
00:14:58,506 --> 00:15:01,335
They said,
"What color do you want?"

256
00:15:01,378 --> 00:15:05,513
And they had a whole row of
used Stratocasters, everything.

257
00:15:06,557 --> 00:15:08,820
And so I got a Gibson 330,
brand new.

258
00:15:08,864 --> 00:15:10,866
I picked out a brand new one,

259
00:15:10,910 --> 00:15:15,958
and they signed him up,
and I had it.
I was on my way.

260
00:15:16,002 --> 00:15:19,701
[narrator] When he first
started playing the guitar,
his musical taste reflected

261
00:15:19,744 --> 00:15:22,486
what was going on in Dallas
at the time.

262
00:15:22,530 --> 00:15:25,533
While Nashville had its country
sounds, and Memphis had Elvis,

263
00:15:25,576 --> 00:15:28,536
Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins
and Johnny Cash,

264
00:15:28,579 --> 00:15:30,755
Dallas had a blend of Black
blues and country,

265
00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:32,801
or what was commonly called,
"Hillbilly."

266
00:15:33,628 --> 00:15:37,632
And my mother's brothers
all played in country
and Western bands.

267
00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:42,811
They liked Merle Travis,
Hank Thompson,
and all that kind of stuff.

268
00:15:43,638 --> 00:15:45,727
That was rock and roll
in the early '50s.

269
00:15:46,032 --> 00:15:47,947
There was all kind of music
around the house,

270
00:15:48,991 --> 00:15:51,951
on the radio and on the record
player.

271
00:15:51,994 --> 00:15:55,650
So, later on,
I'm in several bands
with Paul Ray over the years.

272
00:15:56,303 --> 00:16:00,089
Paul Ray says, "Hey, tonight
T-Bone is playing at Guthrie's."

273
00:16:01,525 --> 00:16:07,575
That was on there on the river,
Trinity River area, down there
in the bottoms.

274
00:16:07,618 --> 00:16:09,490
Oak Cliff was dry back then.

275
00:16:09,533 --> 00:16:12,014
Everybody had to go over
the river to get booze,

276
00:16:12,058 --> 00:16:14,147
and there was a lot of clubs
right there,

277
00:16:14,190 --> 00:16:17,063
liquor stores and clubs
for a mile.

278
00:16:18,803 --> 00:16:25,767
And so, that's where I saw
T-Bone Walker at Guthrie's,
and Paul Ray took me.

279
00:16:26,986 --> 00:16:28,988
I already had his records
and heard about him,

280
00:16:29,031 --> 00:16:30,554
but I'd never seen him
in person.

281
00:16:31,729 --> 00:16:34,602
So, that was a big milestone.

282
00:16:36,082 --> 00:16:37,735
Seeing all these guys

283
00:16:37,779 --> 00:16:42,044
and understanding that you were
in a place

284
00:16:42,088 --> 00:16:46,744
where a lot
of that music came from
and was from there

285
00:16:46,788 --> 00:16:51,662
was very, um, empowering
and exciting,

286
00:16:51,706 --> 00:16:55,057
you know, to be from Dallas.

287
00:16:55,101 --> 00:16:56,537
[guitar playing]

288
00:17:02,673 --> 00:17:04,980
[narrator]
Oak Cliff was in on this wave.

289
00:17:05,024 --> 00:17:08,244
It also gave birth
to the first top 40 radio
station in the country,

290
00:17:08,288 --> 00:17:11,943
KLIF 1190, on your AM dial.

291
00:17:11,987 --> 00:17:17,427
[Connie] I mean, it was huge,
and everybody knew where KLIF
was down in downtown Dallas.

292
00:17:17,471 --> 00:17:22,476
You know, that really unique
triangle shaped building.

293
00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:24,782
[narrator] And as a hundred
thousand watt AM station,

294
00:17:24,826 --> 00:17:29,483
it could be heard
as far away as Midland, Texas
and Louisiana.

295
00:17:29,526 --> 00:17:32,747
But one of the most popular
radio programs
for white kids in Dallas

296
00:17:32,790 --> 00:17:36,620
was Jim Lowe'sKat's Karavan
on WRR.

297
00:17:36,664 --> 00:17:39,319
For a whole generation
of Dallas baby boomers,

298
00:17:39,362 --> 00:17:42,365
this program was their
introduction to R&B

299
00:17:42,409 --> 00:17:45,064
or "race music," as it was
called back then.

300
00:17:45,412 --> 00:17:47,240
[Jimmie] Kats Karavan.

301
00:17:47,283 --> 00:17:49,894
I'd listen to that every night,
it came on at 10:00,

302
00:17:49,938 --> 00:17:51,809
I think it was. For an hour.

303
00:17:51,853 --> 00:17:53,376
And he would play
Jimmy Reed

304
00:17:53,420 --> 00:17:58,338
and Lightnin' Hopkins
and... different people.

305
00:17:58,381 --> 00:18:03,560
And then
I'd switch it over to WLAC,
Nashville would come in.

306
00:18:03,604 --> 00:18:07,303
The Hoss Man, and then later on
after that,

307
00:18:08,391 --> 00:18:11,742
it would be Wolfman
would come in late at night.

308
00:18:12,134 --> 00:18:16,312
So... and that was all
on my little transistor radio,
which was under my pillow.

309
00:18:16,878 --> 00:18:20,838
Click! You just click it on,
and you could hear it
but nobody else could hear it.

310
00:18:21,709 --> 00:18:23,493
'Cause you're supposed to be
asleep, right?

311
00:18:23,537 --> 00:18:25,626
[narrator] And one band
that took up the idea

312
00:18:25,669 --> 00:18:28,498
of white boys
playing Black music
was The Nightcaps.

313
00:18:28,542 --> 00:18:31,371
Jimmie Vaughan
was an early fan.

314
00:18:31,414 --> 00:18:34,635
The Nightcaps
was the first album that
I bought with my own money.

315
00:18:35,070 --> 00:18:38,204
This is before I was in a band
and went out and bought
the Nightcaps,

316
00:18:38,595 --> 00:18:40,815
the whole album,
because they had an album,
you know.

317
00:18:41,337 --> 00:18:43,513
"Wine, Wine, Wine."

318
00:18:43,557 --> 00:18:47,822
♪ I'm drinking wine, wine
Fine wine all the time ♪

319
00:18:49,476 --> 00:18:51,086
[song continues]

320
00:18:53,175 --> 00:18:57,397
And it was all drinkin' songs
pretty much, and blues.

321
00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:02,750
It was
T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Reed,
and Lazy Lester-type songs,

322
00:19:02,793 --> 00:19:06,145
but done by a rock
and roll band.

323
00:19:06,188 --> 00:19:08,321
[narrator] It wasn't long before
Jimmie was learning songs,

324
00:19:08,364 --> 00:19:11,889
not just by The Nightcaps
but other performers.

325
00:19:11,933 --> 00:19:14,283
This was decades before
instructional YouTube

326
00:19:14,327 --> 00:19:18,113
guitar videos
or even the VHS tape.

327
00:19:18,157 --> 00:19:20,898
Back then, if we wanted
to learn to play guitar,

328
00:19:20,942 --> 00:19:23,553
we signed up for lessons
at the YMCA,

329
00:19:23,597 --> 00:19:26,948
but they didn't teach us
"Sunshine of Your Love"
or "Purple Haze."

330
00:19:26,991 --> 00:19:29,516
To play the songs you heard
on the radio,

331
00:19:29,559 --> 00:19:33,433
you had to either
learn them by trial and error
or have a friend show you.

332
00:19:34,477 --> 00:19:36,305
It wasn't easy.

333
00:19:36,349 --> 00:19:39,917
You had to have talent,
you had to practice.

334
00:19:39,961 --> 00:19:42,659
It was hard,
and so few made it.

335
00:19:43,486 --> 00:19:47,229
I knew Johnny Peebles.

336
00:19:47,273 --> 00:19:52,495
Johnny Peebles was the hot
guitar player in Oak Cliff,

337
00:19:52,539 --> 00:19:55,281
and he was playing all around.

338
00:19:56,195 --> 00:19:59,981
He was probably 17 or 18,
and he had a gig,

339
00:20:00,024 --> 00:20:05,029
he had a Stratocaster
and an Epiphone,
and he was a badass.

340
00:20:05,073 --> 00:20:08,729
He showed me how to play
all this stuff.

341
00:20:19,696 --> 00:20:22,699
See, if you know that,
then, uh...

342
00:20:24,614 --> 00:20:26,486
you can run away from home.
No.

343
00:20:26,529 --> 00:20:30,011
I learned how listening
to a Jimmy Reed record.

344
00:20:30,054 --> 00:20:32,448
You know, one day my dad
had a guitar already,

345
00:20:32,492 --> 00:20:34,972
and I'd lay it in my lap,
you know, like this,

346
00:20:35,016 --> 00:20:38,367
and I'll be seeing
where to put my fingers,
and I finally get it.

347
00:20:38,411 --> 00:20:41,065
And one day I said, "Well,
if I'm really going to play,

348
00:20:41,109 --> 00:20:44,286
I need to hold it up like this
and try to do it like this,"
you know?

349
00:20:44,895 --> 00:20:49,030
And so finally,
you know, I got it all down,

350
00:20:49,073 --> 00:20:53,774
-[producer] Play a blues lick.
-Oh, boy, it's been a long time,
you know.

351
00:21:06,090 --> 00:21:08,354
-You know.
-The first song I learned

352
00:21:08,397 --> 00:21:12,227
was from my stepbrother, Bruce,
which was "Pipeline."

353
00:21:40,081 --> 00:21:42,823
It was just osmosis. I mean,
it was just being in the room.

354
00:21:42,866 --> 00:21:45,304
It was going to those sock hops,
it was going to Candy's Flare,

355
00:21:45,347 --> 00:21:47,001
it was going
to Twilight Roller Rink,

356
00:21:47,044 --> 00:21:49,917
and just-- you'd watch
what somebody else did,

357
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,660
then you'd go home,
and you'd get the record,
and you'd just wear it out.

358
00:21:53,703 --> 00:21:58,229
You'd get a new B.B. King
album, and you'd just--
the album would just skip,

359
00:21:58,273 --> 00:22:01,624
'cause you'd move the needle
back to get the lick
so many times, you know?

360
00:22:01,668 --> 00:22:05,585
So, I would just sit,
and I would listen with my ears
and try to learn the lick.

361
00:22:05,889 --> 00:22:08,196
And so, most of us were
self-taught.

362
00:22:08,239 --> 00:22:11,068
And then when we would rehearse,
because you were so young,

363
00:22:11,112 --> 00:22:15,464
there were kind of
a rehearsal/learning session,

364
00:22:15,508 --> 00:22:17,597
like somebody
would know something
and they'd show it to you,

365
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,556
and you'd know something and
show it to the guy next to you.
It was fun.

366
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,384
Here's the thing
about a guitar player,

367
00:22:22,428 --> 00:22:24,168
whatever you play,
to a great degree,

368
00:22:24,212 --> 00:22:26,432
it's going to sound
like you sound.

369
00:22:26,475 --> 00:22:28,825
So much of your tone
is in your hands.

370
00:22:29,348 --> 00:22:34,309
So, Stevie sounded
like the Stevie that
we all grew to know and love,

371
00:22:34,353 --> 00:22:36,920
even playing through this rig,
you know.

372
00:22:47,757 --> 00:22:52,545
[Connie] They were both
the most determined people
I have ever met in my life.

373
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,157
I still believe that Jimmie
and Stevie

374
00:22:56,592 --> 00:22:58,638
were born to be who they were
going to be,

375
00:22:59,552 --> 00:23:02,250
because they believed in
practice made perfect,

376
00:23:02,990 --> 00:23:06,123
and they practiced.

377
00:23:06,167 --> 00:23:09,300
[narrator]
After learning a few songs,
Jimmie Vaughan, Phil Campbell

378
00:23:09,344 --> 00:23:13,566
and Ronnie Sterling
formed a trio,
The Swinging Pendulums.

379
00:23:13,609 --> 00:23:17,831
Back then, the idea of playing
records at a dance
was considered lame.

380
00:23:17,874 --> 00:23:20,181
You had to have a live band
to be cool.

381
00:23:20,834 --> 00:23:23,793
It was much more fun
to hire, you know, a couple--

382
00:23:23,837 --> 00:23:28,058
you know, three or four kids
to come play a church party
or a sock hop

383
00:23:28,102 --> 00:23:30,234
or something like that
and pay them, whatever,

384
00:23:30,278 --> 00:23:32,280
ten or 15 bucks each
and have them show up.

385
00:23:32,323 --> 00:23:34,064
And it was it was a boon
to them.

386
00:23:34,108 --> 00:23:37,633
It was fun for the boys playing
because you got the exposure.

387
00:23:37,677 --> 00:23:42,029
You were an early rock star
and you have you had all your
friends out there

388
00:23:42,333 --> 00:23:46,599
watching you
who may or may not have
known that you played guitar.

389
00:23:46,947 --> 00:23:52,996
So, it was exciting,
and my primary reason was
you got to meet girls.

390
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,738
[narrator] But there was
just one problem
for The Pendulums:

391
00:23:55,782 --> 00:23:57,348
They were all
too young to drive,

392
00:23:57,392 --> 00:23:59,350
so they had to have
their fathers do it.

393
00:24:00,177 --> 00:24:01,962
The three fathers
would switch off,

394
00:24:03,442 --> 00:24:07,968
or they would fight
over who got to do it,
or they would flip a coin,

395
00:24:08,795 --> 00:24:10,100
because, you know,
they would be like,

396
00:24:10,144 --> 00:24:12,929
"Darn, I got to take the kids
tonight.

397
00:24:13,539 --> 00:24:16,237
I'm sorry, honey."
You know what I mean?

398
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,108
Vroom, you know?

399
00:24:18,152 --> 00:24:20,763
[narrator] Even though Dallas
had hundreds of bands,

400
00:24:20,807 --> 00:24:23,766
there was a hierarchy to them
with a few of the top
commanding

401
00:24:23,810 --> 00:24:26,682
premium prices and drawing
the biggest crowds.

402
00:24:26,726 --> 00:24:30,773
And in Dallas,
the hottest band in the 1960s
was The Chessmen.

403
00:24:30,817 --> 00:24:32,862
When The Chessmen's
lead guitar player,

404
00:24:32,906 --> 00:24:35,169
Robert Patton,
drowned in an accident

405
00:24:35,212 --> 00:24:38,912
in White Rock Lake,
an open audition was held
for his replacement.

406
00:24:38,955 --> 00:24:45,092
He was in a fraternity,
and his fraternity buddies and
him were out in White Rock Lake

407
00:24:45,135 --> 00:24:47,573
real late at night
or real early in the morning.

408
00:24:47,616 --> 00:24:51,490
Robert was a good swimmer,
but they were out on the lake.

409
00:24:51,533 --> 00:24:57,104
It was windy and the boom--
and it was cold, and wind blew
one way and knocked

410
00:24:57,147 --> 00:25:00,890
Robert out the boat,
the boom, the sail did,
and then it blew the other way.

411
00:25:00,934 --> 00:25:05,286
Pulled him away.
And of course, we were thinking,
Robert's a good swimmer,

412
00:25:05,329 --> 00:25:09,029
he made it to the shore,
but it was too cold.

413
00:25:09,072 --> 00:25:13,250
[narrator] A 14-year-old
Jimmie Vaughan came in
and blew everyone away.

414
00:25:13,294 --> 00:25:17,472
I remember when I asked him
to come down there, he said,
"Wow, I play with y'all?"

415
00:25:17,864 --> 00:25:20,562
I said, "Yeah."
So, he says, "Are you sure?"
I said, "Yeah."

416
00:25:20,606 --> 00:25:24,958
So, we went down--
I remember going to Louanns

417
00:25:25,001 --> 00:25:27,787
and coming in,
and he got up there

418
00:25:27,830 --> 00:25:30,920
probably two in the afternoon
we got there to try him out.

419
00:25:31,573 --> 00:25:34,358
-And he worked out right. Yeah.
-Yeah.

420
00:25:34,402 --> 00:25:38,014
He played everything
that we already knew,
you know.

421
00:25:38,058 --> 00:25:41,322
[narrator] Jimmie got the gig,
but he was still too young
to drive,

422
00:25:41,365 --> 00:25:43,977
so the band members
had to be his driver,

423
00:25:44,020 --> 00:25:46,022
picking him up for their shows
and taking him home

424
00:25:46,066 --> 00:25:49,069
around 2:00 a.m.
after the clubs closed.

425
00:25:49,112 --> 00:25:52,159
I'd pick him up or some
of his friends that had
a license would bring him.

426
00:25:52,202 --> 00:25:54,857
Well, but now we had--
back then

427
00:25:54,901 --> 00:25:58,208
we had a black '50 model
Cadillac hearse,
that was our band wagon.

428
00:25:58,252 --> 00:25:59,949
And we'd go by and pick up
Jimmie.

429
00:25:59,993 --> 00:26:04,824
He was right off to Illinois
and Hampton, in Oak Cliff.

430
00:26:05,259 --> 00:26:07,087
And this is the ironic thing.

431
00:26:07,130 --> 00:26:10,960
Now, Johnny said this,
and I never saw it
but he said

432
00:26:11,004 --> 00:26:14,747
Stevie Ray would stand
out on the front porch
and cry when we left.

433
00:26:15,269 --> 00:26:17,358
In an interview he had
with somebody, he said,

434
00:26:17,401 --> 00:26:19,708
"When they left with Jimmie,
I'd do one or two things,

435
00:26:19,752 --> 00:26:21,536
I'd either stand
on the front porch and cry

436
00:26:21,580 --> 00:26:23,146
or go in and practice
like crazy."

437
00:26:23,190 --> 00:26:25,148
Yeah, well, my parents
would take me sometime

438
00:26:25,192 --> 00:26:26,585
when I lost my license,

439
00:26:26,628 --> 00:26:28,848
and we'd drive over there
to pick Jimmie up,

440
00:26:28,891 --> 00:26:30,893
and they'd take us
where we need to go,

441
00:26:30,937 --> 00:26:33,156
and Stevie would be running out
to the car.

442
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,029
And then Jimmie would--
at one time that I know of--

443
00:26:36,072 --> 00:26:38,988
would chase him
back up to the porch and run
and get in the car and take off.

444
00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:42,992
Stevie wanted to go.
We should've let him go,
you know?

445
00:26:43,036 --> 00:26:45,865
If he didn't have a brother,
Jimmie-- Stevie
would have played.

446
00:26:45,908 --> 00:26:48,389
I do think that if the fact
that he had a brother

447
00:26:49,042 --> 00:26:52,611
that played like Jimmie,
it opened the doors,

448
00:26:52,654 --> 00:26:57,050
it's like the sparrow
and the eagle, like,
he got to experience

449
00:26:58,138 --> 00:27:00,183
music on a really potent level

450
00:27:00,227 --> 00:27:03,230
at an early--
as a really young kid
because of his brother.

451
00:27:03,273 --> 00:27:06,450
We knew Jimmie
from The Chessmen.

452
00:27:06,494 --> 00:27:09,976
When I had the Moving Sidewalks
out of Houston,

453
00:27:10,498 --> 00:27:14,676
The Chessmen
had started their thing
up north Texas and Dallas.

454
00:27:15,503 --> 00:27:19,333
And Jimmie
was leading the charge.

455
00:27:19,376 --> 00:27:23,467
We admired what they were doing
to the point where

456
00:27:23,772 --> 00:27:27,254
if we had a night off
and they were playing,
we'd seek them out.

457
00:27:27,297 --> 00:27:30,692
[narrator] Without question,
the two most revered guitar
players of the 1960s

458
00:27:30,736 --> 00:27:33,347
were Jimi Hendrix
and Eric Clapton.

459
00:27:33,390 --> 00:27:36,306
They completely changed
the idea of what a guitar
could do.

460
00:27:36,350 --> 00:27:39,614
Now the front man
wasn't the singer
on the microphone.

461
00:27:39,658 --> 00:27:42,748
It was the guy who could make
his guitar talk.

462
00:27:42,791 --> 00:27:45,751
Like every other budding
guitar player from that era,

463
00:27:45,794 --> 00:27:49,537
both Jimmie and Stevie idolized
Hendrix and Clapton.

464
00:27:49,580 --> 00:27:51,278
And one night, Jimmie Vaughan
and The Chessmen

465
00:27:51,321 --> 00:27:53,497
got a chance to open up
for Hendrix

466
00:27:53,541 --> 00:27:54,890
at his Dallas concert.

467
00:27:56,109 --> 00:28:00,722
Hendrix, his road man--
his gear guy,

468
00:28:00,766 --> 00:28:03,159
he said that he'd busted
his Wah-Wah pedal.

469
00:28:03,856 --> 00:28:07,555
So, they came to me,
and I had a brand-new Vox
Wah-Wah pedal,

470
00:28:07,598 --> 00:28:09,339
which cost--
I can't remember

471
00:28:09,383 --> 00:28:13,343
if it was $29 or $17,
but it was something like that.

472
00:28:14,431 --> 00:28:20,786
And they said,
"Look, Jimi has busted
his pedal.

473
00:28:20,829 --> 00:28:24,267
If you let us use yours,
we'll give you his old one.

474
00:28:24,964 --> 00:28:27,967
And I'll give you 25 bucks."
Which is more than I paid
for it,

475
00:28:28,010 --> 00:28:31,710
you know, or 50 bucks
or something like that,

476
00:28:31,753 --> 00:28:36,932
because we can't
go to the music store
on a Saturday, you know.

477
00:28:36,976 --> 00:28:39,848
So, that was
what the real story was.

478
00:28:39,892 --> 00:28:41,894
And then of course the legend
has it that...

479
00:28:43,591 --> 00:28:47,290
we traded Wah Wah pedals
or something, you know,
something ridiculous.

480
00:28:47,334 --> 00:28:51,381
But what it was
was they just wanted mine
'cause they didn't have one.

481
00:28:51,425 --> 00:28:54,950
And so they gave me 50 bucks
and his old DeArmond,

482
00:28:54,994 --> 00:28:58,475
which wasn't any good...
for that, you know?

483
00:28:59,346 --> 00:29:02,653
-[producer]
You still have that pedal?
-I think I do, yeah.

484
00:29:04,264 --> 00:29:06,919
But, I mean, you can't tell
that it's anything, you know,

485
00:29:08,094 --> 00:29:10,487
you can go on eBay and buy 15
of them, you know? [chuckles]

486
00:29:12,576 --> 00:29:16,015
[Tommy] All I can say is
Hendrix, and Noel Redding,
and Mitch Mitchell,

487
00:29:16,058 --> 00:29:18,017
they were all three
real nice guys.

488
00:29:18,060 --> 00:29:20,323
I mean, I was really
kind of shocked,

489
00:29:20,367 --> 00:29:24,240
and, uh--
but, uh-- and they were nice,

490
00:29:24,284 --> 00:29:27,330
and I want
to say something here

491
00:29:27,374 --> 00:29:31,726
and it's gonna sound crazy,
but I honestly think that night,

492
00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:35,991
we were louder than they were,
but they were a lot better
than we were.

493
00:29:36,035 --> 00:29:38,994
But they were--
they were playing out
of two Sun amps--

494
00:29:39,038 --> 00:29:40,604
Our volume covers that up,
right?

495
00:29:40,648 --> 00:29:42,345
Yeah, the volume covers
our stuff,

496
00:29:42,389 --> 00:29:44,304
our mess ups, you know,
but honestly,

497
00:29:44,347 --> 00:29:47,524
we had more sound equipment
on the stage.

498
00:29:47,568 --> 00:29:51,224
But then our booking agent
worked this out,
Jimmie Vaughan and I flew

499
00:29:51,267 --> 00:29:55,532
with Jimi Hendrix
and his band from Love Field
to Houston.

500
00:29:56,229 --> 00:29:58,492
I mean,
our booking agent got that,
and that was so cool.

501
00:29:58,535 --> 00:30:00,363
But what do you talk
to Jimi Hendrix

502
00:30:00,407 --> 00:30:03,105
on an airplane about?
I just kind of, "Uh..."

503
00:30:03,149 --> 00:30:06,456
[narrator] Jimmie Vaughan
and Billy Gibbons
had something in common now.

504
00:30:06,500 --> 00:30:12,723
They had both met Jimi Hendrix,
but the admiration and respect
went deeper than that.

505
00:30:14,987 --> 00:30:16,902
Houston had this place
called The Catacombs,

506
00:30:16,945 --> 00:30:20,253
and it was pretty nice,
big stage, two stages, actually.

507
00:30:20,296 --> 00:30:23,256
They had a big room,
and a small room, and...

508
00:30:24,823 --> 00:30:27,477
The Chessmen
and The Moving Sidewalks
played a Friday

509
00:30:27,521 --> 00:30:31,481
and a Saturday night together,
and we just had a blast.

510
00:30:31,525 --> 00:30:33,396
It was really, really something.

511
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,746
I've known Billy since I was 15,

512
00:30:35,790 --> 00:30:39,576
and The Chessmen would go down
and play in Houston,

513
00:30:39,620 --> 00:30:44,625
and Billy Gibbons would be
on the same bill with us
sometimes at The Catacombs,

514
00:30:45,278 --> 00:30:48,194
which was a club that we used
to play down there.

515
00:30:48,890 --> 00:30:54,287
And we actually did one gig
where they said,
"Jimmie Vaughan from Dallas

516
00:30:54,330 --> 00:30:58,465
meets Billy Gibbons
from Houston on the same stage."

517
00:30:58,813 --> 00:31:01,207
And so, one of us was on each
side of the stage,

518
00:31:01,250 --> 00:31:04,253
and we were
supposed to battle it out,
you know, and everything.

519
00:31:04,297 --> 00:31:07,474
It was a big, sold-out deal,
you know?

520
00:31:07,517 --> 00:31:10,042
[Johnny] I broke my Epiphone
in half that night, so...

521
00:31:10,085 --> 00:31:12,392
-So, was that the night?
-Yeah, I was playing on
the keyboard,

522
00:31:12,435 --> 00:31:15,264
and we were doing
some kind of Who song,
you know,

523
00:31:15,308 --> 00:31:17,614
where they broke
all their equipment,
and I...

524
00:31:18,572 --> 00:31:21,618
my guitar, I slid it off
and I was running up
and down that organ.

525
00:31:21,662 --> 00:31:23,969
And then
I looked down there and saw it,
and I walked around the front

526
00:31:24,012 --> 00:31:26,667
and I took my foot and did that.
And it did that.

527
00:31:26,710 --> 00:31:31,367
And then I got on my knees,
and I started, you know--
make a bunch of racket with it,

528
00:31:31,411 --> 00:31:35,458
you know,
and this end of the neck
right here laying over here.

529
00:31:35,502 --> 00:31:37,852
[chuckles]
So I broke that thing in half.

530
00:31:37,896 --> 00:31:40,289
And then we all went back
in the dressing room
after that.

531
00:31:40,333 --> 00:31:42,988
And someone came in there,
you know how they come
backstage.

532
00:31:43,031 --> 00:31:46,600
-Yeah.
-He says, "Y'all do that?"
I said, "We do that every show."

533
00:31:46,643 --> 00:31:48,558
[narrator]
Because he was staying out
until 2:00 a.m. every night,

534
00:31:48,602 --> 00:31:50,996
he was missing school.

535
00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:53,346
It finally reached a point
where he decided to leave home

536
00:31:53,389 --> 00:31:54,869
and chase his rock and roll
dreams.

537
00:31:56,392 --> 00:31:59,004
Doyle Bramhall
pulled into his driveway.

538
00:31:59,047 --> 00:32:03,182
Jimmie carried his things
to the waiting car,
and he was gone,

539
00:32:03,225 --> 00:32:06,576
leaving his family
and younger brother Stevie
behind.

540
00:32:06,620 --> 00:32:11,494
I was making $300, $350
a week at 14.

541
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:17,457
That was big money
in the mid '60s.

542
00:32:17,500 --> 00:32:19,938
That was more money than my dad
made at the time.

543
00:32:20,982 --> 00:32:23,985
And, um, it was kind of weird,
you know,

544
00:32:24,029 --> 00:32:26,988
but all of a sudden, I could--

545
00:32:27,032 --> 00:32:28,859
I could go down and sign up

546
00:32:28,903 --> 00:32:33,429
and get any guitar or any amp
and I could go buy clothes.

547
00:32:33,473 --> 00:32:36,824
And I had an apartment,
you know, and things like that.

548
00:32:36,867 --> 00:32:40,349
So I was, you know,
in hog heaven, and all I had
to do was play guitar,

549
00:32:40,393 --> 00:32:42,482
which is what I wanted to do,
you know what I mean?

550
00:32:43,439 --> 00:32:46,616
And so, about that time,
if you look at the old pictures,

551
00:32:47,052 --> 00:32:50,707
there's a picture
of me playing a guitar
like this with a flat top.

552
00:32:51,317 --> 00:32:53,797
And then Stevie is right there.

553
00:32:53,841 --> 00:32:57,279
He's got a toy guitar,
but it had six strings,
you know.

554
00:32:57,323 --> 00:33:01,022
We stood next to the stereo
because it looked like
we had speakers.

555
00:33:01,066 --> 00:33:02,937
If I did something,
he would do it.

556
00:33:04,199 --> 00:33:06,985
Uh, guitar-wise.
If I bring home a record,

557
00:33:07,028 --> 00:33:10,379
you know,
he would watch me learn,
so it was really the same.

558
00:33:10,423 --> 00:33:17,430
I put it down,
and he would emulate that
because, you know, there it was.

559
00:33:17,778 --> 00:33:22,087
When I ran off to be a musician,
everything when I got in
that band,

560
00:33:22,130 --> 00:33:24,219
my parents kind of clamped down
on him,

561
00:33:25,742 --> 00:33:30,312
because they didn't want him--
they knew that he would do
the same thing I did, right?

562
00:33:30,356 --> 00:33:36,057
So all it did was jack him up
more to even try harder

563
00:33:36,101 --> 00:33:40,366
because he had to beat me.
It's the natural thing, right?

564
00:33:41,149 --> 00:33:45,240
If you're going to do something,
you have to have the bar set.

565
00:33:45,284 --> 00:33:50,811
So... and so I saw him
a few times because I didn't
want to go home.

566
00:33:50,854 --> 00:33:54,641
[stammers] I was still afraid
they would keep me.
Right?

567
00:33:54,684 --> 00:33:58,775
[chuckles] And so, uh...

568
00:33:58,819 --> 00:34:02,344
So they kind of clamped down
on Stevie to make sure he
wouldn't run away, too,

569
00:34:02,388 --> 00:34:05,347
which made him try harder
and harder and harder.

570
00:34:05,391 --> 00:34:07,784
And so by the time he got out
of high school,

571
00:34:07,828 --> 00:34:11,527
he was a bad motor scooter,
you know, on the guitar.
He was good.

572
00:34:11,571 --> 00:34:16,010
When I first heard him play
away from one another,
I couldn't see the connection.

573
00:34:16,706 --> 00:34:18,839
Because for me,

574
00:34:18,882 --> 00:34:22,234
uh, Stevie was Albert King.

575
00:34:23,017 --> 00:34:25,846
He was, you know, he...
[stammers]

576
00:34:25,889 --> 00:34:29,632
it seemed like he was
a protégé of Albert King,
he played that way.

577
00:34:29,676 --> 00:34:32,896
And I thought,
"These are two very, very
different styles."

578
00:34:32,940 --> 00:34:36,117
What I think
you could be looking at
is the fact that

579
00:34:36,161 --> 00:34:39,860
would-- would Stevie
be playing at all?

580
00:34:39,903 --> 00:34:43,646
You know, and I think in a way,
it was like, well, if you're
gonna do it,

581
00:34:43,690 --> 00:34:45,431
I could probably
do a better job

582
00:34:45,474 --> 00:34:48,347
it was definitely
sibling rivalry, I think,
going on.

583
00:34:48,390 --> 00:34:49,913
I don't know whether Jimmie
would agree.

584
00:34:49,957 --> 00:34:52,046
Probably-- he probably would.

585
00:34:52,394 --> 00:34:56,703
And I think it's like, well,
"Who's the fastest gun?"
You know?

586
00:34:57,312 --> 00:35:03,275
So, in a way,
it may have reinforced
Jimmie's style of playing, too,

587
00:35:03,318 --> 00:35:09,150
to actually really ground that,
or, you know, to keep it tight
and fundamental

588
00:35:09,194 --> 00:35:13,459
while Stevie was going off
into the atmosphere, you know.

589
00:35:14,547 --> 00:35:17,680
[Scott] I first met Stevie
in my senior year at Kimball.

590
00:35:18,464 --> 00:35:22,120
He was two years behind me.
He was a sophomore
when I was a senior.

591
00:35:22,163 --> 00:35:26,080
And I had put together
a horn band

592
00:35:26,428 --> 00:35:29,170
with a friend of mine
named Jimmy Tremier,
who was a saxophone player.

593
00:35:29,562 --> 00:35:33,609
And we were putting together
a band in the same genre
as Chicago

594
00:35:33,653 --> 00:35:36,699
and Blood, Sweat and Tears,
which were hugely popular bands
at the time.

595
00:35:37,613 --> 00:35:41,356
I was actually the guitar
player for the band,
and one Saturday

596
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,229
at rehearsal we realized
we didn't--

597
00:35:44,272 --> 00:35:45,882
well, we didn't have
a bass player at all.

598
00:35:45,926 --> 00:35:48,189
And for one of these Saturday
rehearsals,

599
00:35:48,233 --> 00:35:50,322
I think it was
one of the horn players said,

600
00:35:50,365 --> 00:35:53,847
"I know a kid that can come
and play bass at rehearsal,

601
00:35:54,152 --> 00:35:56,850
and if he's good, you know,
then we'll keep him."

602
00:35:56,893 --> 00:36:01,376
So, this Saturday morning,
this skinny, little 15-year-old
kid shows up,

603
00:36:02,551 --> 00:36:05,598
brings his bass in,
and we started rehearsing.

604
00:36:05,641 --> 00:36:08,601
We learned two or three songs,
and of course, he was a good
bass player.

605
00:36:09,079 --> 00:36:13,127
And we took a break
after we'd gone through
about four or five songs.

606
00:36:13,171 --> 00:36:15,521
We were all
standing around outside
smoking a cigarette or whatever.

607
00:36:15,956 --> 00:36:20,700
And this kid says, "Hey, Scott,
do you mind if I play
your guitar?"

608
00:36:20,743 --> 00:36:22,658
I said, "No, no, no, sure,
go right ahead."

609
00:36:22,702 --> 00:36:25,618
You know, "Help yourself."
Anyway, he walks over
and picks up--

610
00:36:25,661 --> 00:36:27,489
I was playing a Fender
Telecaster at the time,

611
00:36:27,533 --> 00:36:29,752
but he walked over and picked up
my guitar

612
00:36:29,796 --> 00:36:32,190
and just proceeded
to blow us all away.

613
00:36:32,233 --> 00:36:35,280
I mean, he just cleaned my clock
as far as playing guitar.

614
00:36:35,323 --> 00:36:37,978
He was amazing.
But that's who it was.

615
00:36:38,021 --> 00:36:40,110
It was Stevie Vaughan
when he was 15 years old.

616
00:36:40,154 --> 00:36:42,156
And then after we heard him
play guitar,

617
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,027
I immediately became
the bass player.

618
00:36:44,071 --> 00:36:46,682
I walked over and took his bass
and gave him my guitar

619
00:36:46,726 --> 00:36:50,077
and said, "You're now
the guitar player,
I'm bass player for the band."

620
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,733
The best advice I ever got--
two things that I got from
Stevie, he said,

621
00:36:53,776 --> 00:36:57,998
"Always, when you're playing,
play from your heart and soul."

622
00:36:58,041 --> 00:36:59,913
The mechanics are good,
but if you can't play

623
00:36:59,956 --> 00:37:02,307
with your
soul or from your heart--
that's where he came from.

624
00:37:02,350 --> 00:37:05,658
He played-- and another thing
is for as far as the mechanical
side, you know,

625
00:37:05,701 --> 00:37:07,616
because he had
incredibly strong hands,

626
00:37:07,660 --> 00:37:09,139
I can remember
watching him play

627
00:37:09,183 --> 00:37:10,532
and I would pick up
a guitar and say,

628
00:37:10,576 --> 00:37:12,099
"Stevie,
show me how to do that."

629
00:37:12,142 --> 00:37:14,232
And he would play these
incredible licks.

630
00:37:14,275 --> 00:37:16,016
I can't remember,
but let's see...

631
00:37:22,501 --> 00:37:26,200
You know, something like that.
And I would watch him
when he was--

632
00:37:26,896 --> 00:37:30,639
I couldn't get the concept down
of how to stretch strings
at the time.

633
00:37:30,683 --> 00:37:33,860
And Stevie was-- to him,
it was just, "This is how
you do it."

634
00:37:33,903 --> 00:37:36,166
And he would
just show it to me,
and I would watch his fingers,

635
00:37:36,210 --> 00:37:38,430
and I'd try to duplicate it.
And there was just no way.

636
00:37:38,473 --> 00:37:43,696
But I asked him, I said,
"How do you manage that?
How did you get the string?"

637
00:37:43,739 --> 00:37:48,178
And he said,
"Always, when you rehearse,
when you practice by yourself,

638
00:37:48,222 --> 00:37:51,138
if you have an acoustic guitar,
play an acoustic guitar,

639
00:37:51,181 --> 00:37:53,053
don't play your electric,
play your acoustic

640
00:37:53,096 --> 00:37:54,968
because it'll build up
your hand strength."

641
00:37:55,882 --> 00:37:58,101
Well, when we were
in high school,

642
00:37:58,145 --> 00:38:01,104
we heard about a project
that a guy was doing,

643
00:38:01,496 --> 00:38:02,932
and it was called "A New High."

644
00:38:02,976 --> 00:38:05,021
It was a play on high school
and getting high.

645
00:38:05,326 --> 00:38:09,025
And so we submitted a picture,

646
00:38:09,069 --> 00:38:13,203
and we wrote a bio
and where we played
and the whole thing,

647
00:38:13,247 --> 00:38:15,293
and you know,
you're back to, once again,

648
00:38:15,336 --> 00:38:17,643
there was no Facebook,
so it had to be public opinion.

649
00:38:17,686 --> 00:38:20,515
In other words, they would talk
to two or three people.

650
00:38:20,559 --> 00:38:21,951
I guess he had some sort
of panel.

651
00:38:21,995 --> 00:38:23,823
And so, "Yeah, I saw them
at Candy's Flare,

652
00:38:23,866 --> 00:38:25,694
I saw them at Glen Oak sock hop

653
00:38:25,738 --> 00:38:27,609
or Twilight Roller Rink,"
or whatever.

654
00:38:27,653 --> 00:38:29,698
So we were the band
that was picked.
It was called The Mint.

655
00:38:29,742 --> 00:38:33,746
That was the band I grew up in,
and we were the band
from Carter.

656
00:38:33,789 --> 00:38:36,662
Stevie was in a band called
a Cast of Thousands,

657
00:38:36,705 --> 00:38:38,577
which he was the band
from Kimble.

658
00:38:38,620 --> 00:38:40,535
A good friend of mine,
Mike McCollough was in it,

659
00:38:40,579 --> 00:38:43,190
and the character actor
Steve Tobolowsky.

660
00:38:43,233 --> 00:38:47,020
Somehow Bobby,
through his connections,
whatever those were,

661
00:38:47,803 --> 00:38:50,415
got us this opportunity

662
00:38:50,893 --> 00:38:53,853
to record songs on this album.

663
00:38:53,896 --> 00:38:56,638
The album, which I happen to
have right here,
A New High.

664
00:38:57,683 --> 00:39:01,948
This is the real thing,
and it's still sealed
in plastic,

665
00:39:01,991 --> 00:39:04,690
which means it is
collector quality.

666
00:39:04,733 --> 00:39:08,607
This is the first recording
Stevie Ray Vaughan ever made.

667
00:39:09,259 --> 00:39:11,740
When we were brought into
the studio,

668
00:39:11,784 --> 00:39:13,568
Bobby said he got
this little kid,

669
00:39:13,612 --> 00:39:15,918
Stevie Vaughan,
to play lead guitar for us.

670
00:39:16,310 --> 00:39:18,312
He was 14 years old.

671
00:39:18,356 --> 00:39:20,967
And I said, "Bobby, come on!"

672
00:39:21,010 --> 00:39:26,015
"I mean, why can't I play
some guitar? You're bringing in
a 14-year-old?"

673
00:39:26,059 --> 00:39:29,018
And Bobby said, "Well,
he's actually really good,

674
00:39:29,062 --> 00:39:31,456
and he's going to make us
sound like we know
what we're doing."

675
00:39:32,021 --> 00:39:36,243
And Stevie was sitting
on a metal folding chair

676
00:39:36,286 --> 00:39:39,159
with his Gibson with the double
humbuck and pickups.

677
00:39:39,202 --> 00:39:42,728
Stevie said, "Well, what are
you guys going to do? Let me
hear a little bit of it."

678
00:39:42,771 --> 00:39:46,427
And we played like one measure.
He says, "Okay, I got it."

679
00:39:46,471 --> 00:39:49,648
And so he kind of played
along with us to begin with.

680
00:39:50,300 --> 00:39:57,177
And then the engineer said,
"Well, Steve, we're ready,
do you want to do a solo?"

681
00:39:57,220 --> 00:40:00,398
And Stevie said, "Well, sure."
So, Stevie said,

682
00:40:00,441 --> 00:40:05,228
"Do you want me to do one
like Eric Clapton
or Jimi Hendrix?"

683
00:40:05,620 --> 00:40:07,709
And I said to Bobby,
"Who's Jimi Hendrix?"

684
00:40:07,753 --> 00:40:10,103
And Bobby said, "Shut up,
just shut up, man. Shut up.

685
00:40:10,146 --> 00:40:13,454
Just stand over there
and pretend you're playing
the guitar."

686
00:40:13,498 --> 00:40:16,588
And the guy said,
"Your choice, man,
do whatever you want."

687
00:40:16,631 --> 00:40:20,330
So, Stevie kind of
threw his head back
and went into this lead

688
00:40:20,853 --> 00:40:23,159
that was blistering.

689
00:40:23,203 --> 00:40:24,857
[Stevie playing guitar]

690
00:40:32,647 --> 00:40:36,259
On this album.
Blistering back then at 14.

691
00:40:36,303 --> 00:40:38,479
[narrator] Now the younger
brother was following

692
00:40:38,523 --> 00:40:41,917
in his older brother's
footsteps.

693
00:40:41,961 --> 00:40:45,268
Dallas and Fort Worth
had a circuit of nightclubs
that needed bands.

694
00:40:45,312 --> 00:40:48,097
So, if you were good,
you could find work.

695
00:40:48,141 --> 00:40:52,537
Arthur's was kind of
the Playboy Club of Dallas.

696
00:40:54,277 --> 00:40:57,977
It was kind of low-key, dark,
very moody place.

697
00:40:58,020 --> 00:41:00,327
[stammers]
But it was pretty cool

698
00:41:00,370 --> 00:41:05,201
because they enjoyed having
live music,

699
00:41:05,245 --> 00:41:09,118
which was kind of unusual
for that type of highbrow joint.

700
00:41:09,902 --> 00:41:14,646
But I remember
Stevie was just getting
his feet on the ground.

701
00:41:14,689 --> 00:41:19,041
He had started that group
called Liberation.

702
00:41:19,085 --> 00:41:25,657
And later,
ZZ Top got hired to play
at that same place, Arthur's.

703
00:41:25,700 --> 00:41:28,790
And then Stevie repaid
the favor.

704
00:41:28,834 --> 00:41:32,054
He dropped through,
and we had him play a couple
of numbers with us.

705
00:41:32,446 --> 00:41:35,101
It was a glorious couple
of nights.

706
00:41:35,144 --> 00:41:36,972
That was a good scene.

707
00:41:37,016 --> 00:41:41,150
I guess that must have been
1970, '71.

708
00:41:41,194 --> 00:41:42,630
[narrator]
Both Vaughan brothers were now

709
00:41:42,674 --> 00:41:44,153
in a sort of competition
with the hottest

710
00:41:44,197 --> 00:41:46,199
guitar players in the southwest

711
00:41:46,242 --> 00:41:50,072
like Bugs Henderson,
Mace Maben, Seab Meador.

712
00:41:51,639 --> 00:41:56,296
Getting started
on this crazy thing called

713
00:41:56,862 --> 00:41:58,428
getting in a band
and making music,

714
00:41:58,472 --> 00:42:01,257
that was an entertaining
excursion.

715
00:42:01,301 --> 00:42:06,045
There wasn't any blood, sweat,
there was no toil.

716
00:42:06,088 --> 00:42:11,398
It was something that we
enjoyed doing pre-Internet

717
00:42:12,138 --> 00:42:15,315
pre-MTV, pre-cell phone.

718
00:42:16,621 --> 00:42:20,450
It was basically word of mouth,
and that is where
it gets honest.

719
00:42:20,494 --> 00:42:23,584
Because if somebody came
to see you then,

720
00:42:23,628 --> 00:42:25,934
you know,
it's because they really made
an effort to come.

721
00:42:25,978 --> 00:42:29,851
They didn't see
something on Facebook
or anything like this.

722
00:42:29,895 --> 00:42:34,987
I mean,
they literally came to see you
because they'd heard about you.

723
00:42:35,030 --> 00:42:38,164
They'd honestly heard about you
through your reputation.

724
00:42:38,207 --> 00:42:41,863
[narrator] Without a record
deal, they were unknown
in L.A., New York, or Chicago,

725
00:42:41,907 --> 00:42:44,997
and it was almost like
they were living on an island,

726
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,913
a very big island called Texas.

727
00:42:47,956 --> 00:42:52,657
And you can make
a very good living
just playing in Texas.

728
00:42:52,700 --> 00:42:57,531
Back then, a record deal was
considered the pinnacle
of success in rock and roll.

729
00:42:57,575 --> 00:43:01,927
But the big record labels
were only signing bands
from New York or L.A.

730
00:43:01,970 --> 00:43:06,192
Bands like The Doors were
getting discovered in a club
on the Sunset Strip

731
00:43:06,235 --> 00:43:08,673
or The Young Rascals
in New York City.

732
00:43:08,716 --> 00:43:13,460
They were signed
to Elektra or Atlantic,
major labels on both coasts.

733
00:43:13,503 --> 00:43:15,897
But in between was a huge area
of America

734
00:43:15,941 --> 00:43:18,421
where the A&R men
never ventured.

735
00:43:18,465 --> 00:43:22,382
You could only get on a record
in one of the small local
labels back then.

736
00:43:22,425 --> 00:43:26,821
They had some success
with B.J. Thomas
and Bruce Channel,

737
00:43:26,865 --> 00:43:28,736
but they didn't have
the distribution or the clout

738
00:43:28,780 --> 00:43:31,739
of an RCA, Columbia,
or Warner Brothers.

739
00:43:31,783 --> 00:43:34,046
Their sound or style
from back then was loud,

740
00:43:34,089 --> 00:43:36,614
with a lot of distortion
and some effects.

741
00:43:36,657 --> 00:43:41,096
Most of the rock stars
played a Gibson Les Paul
and relied on its sustain

742
00:43:41,140 --> 00:43:44,056
to get those long, searing
notes that held on forever.

743
00:43:52,717 --> 00:43:54,544
[note continues]

744
00:44:06,426 --> 00:44:08,384
-Still going.
-[producer] Yeah.

745
00:44:08,428 --> 00:44:11,649
[Jimmie] Stratocasters
are the coolest guitar
they ever made

746
00:44:12,562 --> 00:44:14,652
because everything about it--

747
00:44:14,695 --> 00:44:18,090
the way it looks, it looks like
a combination--

748
00:44:18,133 --> 00:44:21,310
You can't tell
whether it's a lamp

749
00:44:21,354 --> 00:44:24,313
or a machine gun
or a ray gun or a--

750
00:44:25,663 --> 00:44:28,448
it's part ashtray.
I mean, what is it?

751
00:44:28,491 --> 00:44:31,146
It's the wildest looking thing
you've ever seen, isn't it?

752
00:44:31,625 --> 00:44:36,586
I mean, it's got horns,
and it was just really trebly
and cool.

753
00:44:37,196 --> 00:44:42,592
And so when you put it on,
you feel special
because it's so cool.

754
00:44:43,115 --> 00:44:46,292
And it will do anything
that another guitar will do.

755
00:44:47,032 --> 00:44:49,817
And it's got a twang bar.
It'll do stuff that, uh--

756
00:44:49,861 --> 00:44:54,517
like Hendrix came out,
and he would just dive
the twang bar down,

757
00:44:54,561 --> 00:45:00,436
and, you know, pull on it,
bash it, and do things
you weren't supposed to do.

758
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,049
[narrator] But down in Texas,
the guitar player
that everybody was copying

759
00:45:04,092 --> 00:45:06,573
was the Texas Cannonball,
Freddy King.

760
00:45:07,617 --> 00:45:12,840
Freddy King, um,
was the first guitar player
I heard

761
00:45:13,928 --> 00:45:19,629
bend a note and then even
put a little vibrato on it.
I'd never heard that before.

762
00:45:19,673 --> 00:45:24,199
In fact, Jackie
and Freddy and I,
we had the house band at the--

763
00:45:24,243 --> 00:45:28,900
or the early band at the Chicken
and the Basket Club where
Freddy King would play.

764
00:45:30,249 --> 00:45:34,993
It's pretty cool. Freddy would
show up in his Cadillac,
would drive from Dallas.

765
00:45:35,036 --> 00:45:36,734
You know, his amp, you know,
that tall--

766
00:45:36,777 --> 00:45:38,910
and take up the whole back seat
of his Cadillac

767
00:45:38,953 --> 00:45:42,261
and he'd drag that out
and put it on stage
and wail away

768
00:45:42,304 --> 00:45:44,350
with Little Al
and The High Fives.

769
00:45:44,393 --> 00:45:47,745
So there was, you know,
nothing like it, yeah?

770
00:45:47,788 --> 00:45:49,572
-[producer] Really.
-[laughs]

771
00:45:49,616 --> 00:45:51,661
Well, Freddy King--
when I first started trying
to play,

772
00:45:51,705 --> 00:45:56,797
before any of this
British invasion stuff
or any of that, I had, uh...

773
00:45:58,712 --> 00:46:03,717
I had The Nightcaps
and Freddy King,
you couldn't, uh--

774
00:46:03,761 --> 00:46:07,939
you had to play "Hide Away"
if you were in Dallas.

775
00:46:07,982 --> 00:46:10,289
If you got hired
for a birthday party,

776
00:46:10,768 --> 00:46:13,640
somebody was gonna
come up and say,
"Can you play Hide Away?"

777
00:46:14,859 --> 00:46:18,340
And if you can't play
Hide Away, then you may not,

778
00:46:18,384 --> 00:46:21,126
you know, you may not last
the rest of the night.

779
00:46:21,169 --> 00:46:25,478
[Freddy King, "Hide Away"]

780
00:46:26,392 --> 00:46:28,350
I bought the single
"Hide Away."

781
00:46:28,394 --> 00:46:30,657
Someone told me
about "Hide Away,"

782
00:46:30,700 --> 00:46:35,270
and I was playing "Hide Away"
before I joined John Mayall.

783
00:46:35,314 --> 00:46:38,491
And so, that was it for me.
[stammers] I started--

784
00:46:38,534 --> 00:46:42,930
and then I had to get
a Les Paul, you know,
like Freddy's,

785
00:46:42,974 --> 00:46:48,283
and I found out a lot
about why he sounded like
he did from playing that guitar.

786
00:46:48,327 --> 00:46:53,462
So he was instrumental in me
learning how to play the guitar.

787
00:46:53,506 --> 00:46:55,856
When I was growing up,
I was in that band, Lynx,

788
00:46:55,900 --> 00:46:59,817
and we-- for a couple of months
we had this Sunday night gig,

789
00:46:59,860 --> 00:47:01,862
Burger Night at Mother Blues.

790
00:47:01,906 --> 00:47:04,604
You pay cover and you eat
all the burgers you wanted.

791
00:47:04,952 --> 00:47:08,608
And I'll never forget,
Freddy would come in there
and he had a girl on each arm,

792
00:47:08,651 --> 00:47:10,784
and he'd sit down
in front of me.
And I remember one night

793
00:47:10,828 --> 00:47:12,960
he sat down
right in front of me,
literally right in front of me,

794
00:47:13,004 --> 00:47:15,963
he looked up and he goes,
"Impress me, boy."

795
00:47:16,790 --> 00:47:19,488
Yeah, that's a bit intimidating,
you know?

796
00:47:19,532 --> 00:47:24,058
[narrator] Freddy King's style
of blues was different
than Muddy Waters or B.B. King.

797
00:47:24,102 --> 00:47:27,453
It was what came
to be known as the
Texas Roadhouse Blues,

798
00:47:27,496 --> 00:47:30,586
more up tempo and driven.

799
00:47:30,630 --> 00:47:33,372
Texas guitar players
like Steve Miller
and the Vaughan brothers

800
00:47:33,415 --> 00:47:37,028
flocked to his shows
to absorb King's style

801
00:47:37,071 --> 00:47:40,248
and in turn use it
on their songs.

802
00:47:40,292 --> 00:47:45,123
This brought a whole different
style in Texas than they played
in New York or L.A.

803
00:47:45,166 --> 00:47:47,560
And it was what some called
"Blue-Eyed Soul"

804
00:47:47,603 --> 00:47:50,432
or white boys playing
the Black man's music.

805
00:47:50,476 --> 00:47:53,087
But it was really taking
the Black roots
of rock and roll

806
00:47:53,131 --> 00:47:56,395
and making it palatable
for white college kids.

807
00:47:56,438 --> 00:47:59,572
You can hear it in the early
songs of The Rolling Stones
and Led Zeppelin.

808
00:48:01,530 --> 00:48:04,577
At the height of his success,
Jimmie became a father.

809
00:48:04,620 --> 00:48:07,449
His then girlfriend,
Donna Powers, became pregnant,

810
00:48:07,493 --> 00:48:10,888
and Jimmie got married
at the age of 18.

811
00:48:10,931 --> 00:48:13,020
Jimmie's marriage was followed
by a desire

812
00:48:13,064 --> 00:48:16,110
to drop the British
rock and roll sounds of Cream,

813
00:48:16,154 --> 00:48:19,026
Led Zeppelin,
and the Yardbirds,
and return to the blues

814
00:48:19,070 --> 00:48:22,073
and hillbilly music
he grew up with.

815
00:48:22,116 --> 00:48:25,641
But at the same time,
Dallas was not the most
hospitable city

816
00:48:25,685 --> 00:48:27,774
for a long-haired rock and roll
guitar player.

817
00:48:28,601 --> 00:48:32,866
This idea that Dallas
was a hotbed of extremism
certainly is accurate.

818
00:48:33,475 --> 00:48:36,000
This is the city
that had come out of having
the Klu Klux Klan

819
00:48:36,043 --> 00:48:39,220
here in the 1920s,
one of the largest chapters
in the country.

820
00:48:39,829 --> 00:48:45,400
In fact, in 1960, the Mayor
of Dallas, R.L. Thornton,
was a former Klansman.

821
00:48:45,444 --> 00:48:48,795
[narrator]
Austin, Texas, a college town
only about 180 miles

822
00:48:48,838 --> 00:48:52,320
south down the road,
was a bit more tolerant
of creative types.

823
00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:58,022
When I lived in Dallas,
they didn't want you
playin' blues.

824
00:48:58,065 --> 00:49:01,851
They wanted the stuff
that was on the radio.
So, if you wanted to get a gig,

825
00:49:02,461 --> 00:49:05,246
you had to play what was
on the radio or something
like it.

826
00:49:07,292 --> 00:49:09,511
And so-- and down here

827
00:49:09,555 --> 00:49:12,123
they had, you know,
weird bands, like...

828
00:49:13,472 --> 00:49:16,562
Beatnik bands, and they had
The Conqueroo,

829
00:49:16,605 --> 00:49:18,868
and they had
The 13th Floor Elevators,

830
00:49:19,957 --> 00:49:22,829
and then
The Vulcan Gas Company,
we had places like that.

831
00:49:22,872 --> 00:49:27,355
So I figured
if they would let them play,

832
00:49:27,399 --> 00:49:29,227
they would let me play blues.

833
00:49:30,445 --> 00:49:34,319
And just-- mainly just to get
the you-know-what out of Dallas.

834
00:49:34,362 --> 00:49:37,975
Oh, much less crowded.
Very, very cheap to live here.

835
00:49:38,018 --> 00:49:42,327
When I first moved here,
I lived with Keith Ferguson
for a few months.

836
00:49:42,370 --> 00:49:46,679
Then I got another place
that had kind of
been handed down

837
00:49:46,722 --> 00:49:48,768
from musician to musician.

838
00:49:48,811 --> 00:49:52,250
The room was like $79.50
a month,

839
00:49:52,293 --> 00:49:57,472
so even if you're
like a slacker musician

840
00:49:57,516 --> 00:50:01,172
and didn't wanna
get a day job, you could
kind of make it, yeah.

841
00:50:01,215 --> 00:50:03,739
One of my first houses
was right here, but it's gone.

842
00:50:06,525 --> 00:50:08,440
It's like right there.

843
00:50:08,483 --> 00:50:12,052
[Mike] The cost of living
was much cheaper,
and I don't know,

844
00:50:12,096 --> 00:50:14,533
it just had
more of a small-town feel,

845
00:50:14,576 --> 00:50:18,276
and, of course,
the artists' bohemian
community here,

846
00:50:18,319 --> 00:50:22,758
musicians and artists,
it was kind of an oasis
from the rest of Texas.

847
00:50:40,515 --> 00:50:43,692
So I don't think
they left Dallas
because of its politics.

848
00:50:43,736 --> 00:50:45,912
I think they left Dallas
for Austin

849
00:50:45,955 --> 00:50:48,393
because Austin was a hipper
place to be.

850
00:50:48,436 --> 00:50:52,049
Austin had the outlaws,
it had the rebels,
it had the dopers.

851
00:50:52,092 --> 00:50:55,748
It had all the things
that Dallas didn't really have
because Dallas was a place

852
00:50:55,791 --> 00:50:58,055
that vehemently frowned on it.

853
00:50:58,098 --> 00:51:02,668
Dallas' roots were not quite
as liberal at the time
as Austin's were,

854
00:51:02,711 --> 00:51:05,540
and I think it reflected
in its policing policies,

855
00:51:05,888 --> 00:51:10,067
and the fact that people
were getting beat up
for smoking dope in Lee Park.

856
00:51:10,110 --> 00:51:12,547
[narrator] So Jimmie packed up
and headed that way,

857
00:51:12,591 --> 00:51:16,421
determined to play
the kind of music he wanted,
playing it his way.

858
00:51:16,899 --> 00:51:19,554
I went over
to the One Knite Lounge

859
00:51:20,077 --> 00:51:22,949
and the only guy that played
there was Blind George.

860
00:51:22,992 --> 00:51:27,388
He played by himself,
and he played on Sundays.
And it was an old junk shop.

861
00:51:27,780 --> 00:51:32,132
And they had--
the whole ceiling was junk
hanging from the ceiling.

862
00:51:32,698 --> 00:51:36,963
And so all they did was put
a bar in and get draft beer.

863
00:51:38,878 --> 00:51:41,533
And so I went down, I said,
"Look, you got Blind George

864
00:51:41,576 --> 00:51:44,623
playing here on Sundays,
and we'll play Blue Mondays."

865
00:51:45,145 --> 00:51:47,495
I was telling the guy, you know.

866
00:51:47,539 --> 00:51:50,977
He's like, "Okay, well,
we'll let you try it out."

867
00:51:51,456 --> 00:51:56,983
And so, I came down there,
and we played down there
for five years every Monday.

868
00:51:57,026 --> 00:51:59,420
Where we are, Red River
and Eighth Street.

869
00:52:00,117 --> 00:52:02,641
Uh, this was called
The One Knite.

870
00:52:02,684 --> 00:52:04,991
It looks pretty much the same,

871
00:52:05,034 --> 00:52:08,821
except it didn't have
this front cover here.

872
00:52:08,864 --> 00:52:14,870
But, uh, the, uh--
the motorcycles
used to park in the front,

873
00:52:16,263 --> 00:52:18,918
and we would go
in the One Knite right here.

874
00:52:18,961 --> 00:52:22,965
-[man] Where was the stage?
-The stage was down here,
but, uh...

875
00:52:23,009 --> 00:52:25,359
[bartender] It's still
downstairs if you wanna go
ahead and go downstairs.

876
00:52:25,403 --> 00:52:27,144
-[Jimmie]
Is it the same stage?
-[bartender] Same stage.

877
00:52:27,883 --> 00:52:29,929
-It's just downstairs?
-[bartender] Right down
the stairs.

878
00:52:32,366 --> 00:52:35,674
So here's the stage.
You've all seen a stage.

879
00:52:35,717 --> 00:52:38,372
This was
the stage at the One Knite,
except it was up there.

880
00:52:39,895 --> 00:52:41,854
It was upstairs.

881
00:52:41,897 --> 00:52:44,726
And that's the One Knite
for you.

882
00:52:44,770 --> 00:52:47,642
[narrator] His dedication
to the Texas Roadhouse Blues

883
00:52:47,686 --> 00:52:49,992
led to Jimmie forming
one of the best loved

884
00:52:50,036 --> 00:52:53,561
and most influential bands
of the 1970s and '80s,

885
00:52:53,605 --> 00:52:56,216
The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

886
00:52:56,260 --> 00:52:59,219
The lineup included
Jimmie Vaughan on guitar,

887
00:52:59,263 --> 00:53:04,137
Keith Ferguson on bass,
and Mike Buck on drums.

888
00:53:04,181 --> 00:53:08,097
To round things out,
they picked up a guy
named Kim Wilson on harmonica.

889
00:53:08,533 --> 00:53:12,014
I guess Jimmy met him
here in Austin at this place

890
00:53:12,058 --> 00:53:16,715
in far south Austin
called Alexander's.

891
00:53:16,758 --> 00:53:20,153
It's off Brody Lane,
which back then was just
farmland.

892
00:53:20,197 --> 00:53:22,329
Of course,
now it's all strip malls, and...

893
00:53:22,373 --> 00:53:26,812
[Jimmie] Kim Wilson came to town
and played on a Sunday night.

894
00:53:26,855 --> 00:53:31,120
Kim showed up
and sat in with us,
and he sounded great.

895
00:53:31,164 --> 00:53:36,778
He had a great tone,
and he was a rea-- really...
uh, into all that stuff.

896
00:53:36,822 --> 00:53:38,737
And he knew
all the Little Walter songs,

897
00:53:38,780 --> 00:53:44,308
and he was very much
like a George Smith disciple.

898
00:53:53,099 --> 00:53:55,797
I saw Kim. He was great.
We got together and next thing
you know,

899
00:53:55,841 --> 00:53:57,799
we had a band called
The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

900
00:53:57,843 --> 00:53:59,975
And I thought of the name.
I--

901
00:54:00,019 --> 00:54:03,849
There was, uh-- it just--
I don't know why.

902
00:54:04,763 --> 00:54:08,027
It just sounded good...
to me.

903
00:54:08,070 --> 00:54:10,203
And so I thought, "We'll be
The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

904
00:54:10,725 --> 00:54:15,252
Why would you want to be
The Thunderbirds when you can be
fabulous?"

905
00:54:17,863 --> 00:54:21,040
[narrator] The decision
to go with a stripped down,
back-to-the-basics sound

906
00:54:21,083 --> 00:54:24,783
went totally against
what was selling records
in that day.

907
00:54:24,826 --> 00:54:29,527
Radio was dominated by groups
like Foreigner, Boston,
Journey, and Cheap Trick.

908
00:54:29,962 --> 00:54:32,443
Those bands weren't
really on our radar.

909
00:54:32,486 --> 00:54:35,576
We didn't really think about it.
It's not what we liked and...

910
00:54:36,447 --> 00:54:40,364
um, not what we listened to,
you know? So.

911
00:54:40,407 --> 00:54:43,280
[narrator]
It was now all or nothing.

912
00:54:43,323 --> 00:54:46,587
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
are going to play the kind
of music they wanted,

913
00:54:46,631 --> 00:54:48,763
even though they were swimming
against the tide.

914
00:54:49,460 --> 00:54:52,637
I think the main thing
for The Thunderbirds
or one of the main things,

915
00:54:53,159 --> 00:54:56,641
of course,
Jimmie's guitar playing
was very influential. And Kim.

916
00:54:57,729 --> 00:55:02,690
But the fact that most of the
blues bands before them were
like hippies, you know?

917
00:55:03,300 --> 00:55:07,739
So we came out, you know,
suits and nice clothes,

918
00:55:07,782 --> 00:55:11,830
and sharp haircuts,
what have you.

919
00:55:12,352 --> 00:55:18,097
We kind of emulated the Chicago
and Louisiana guys

920
00:55:18,140 --> 00:55:20,404
and Texas guys
like Frankie Lee Sims.

921
00:55:20,447 --> 00:55:22,493
["Walking with Frankie"
by Frankie Lee Sims]

922
00:55:22,536 --> 00:55:24,321
♪ Well, I can walk that walk ♪

923
00:55:25,583 --> 00:55:28,325
♪ I walk my fool self down ♪

924
00:55:28,368 --> 00:55:32,372
♪ I'm lookin' for my woman
You know she can't
Be found... ♪

925
00:55:32,416 --> 00:55:34,243
So there weren't a lot
of guitar histrionics.

926
00:55:34,287 --> 00:55:36,245
It was all pretty--

927
00:55:36,289 --> 00:55:41,599
you know, every note counted
and was played with feeling.

928
00:55:41,642 --> 00:55:46,081
And, you know, it wasn't like
just guitar wanking, you know,

929
00:55:46,125 --> 00:55:51,478
like a lot of bands,
which there's a place for that,
too, of course, but... [laughs]

930
00:55:51,522 --> 00:55:53,915
[narrator] But it was not
an easy row to hoe.

931
00:55:53,959 --> 00:55:57,310
They couldn't even get
a booking in Dallas,
Jimmie's hometown.

932
00:55:57,354 --> 00:56:01,836
So they played Austin
and, of all places, Providence,
Rhode Island.

933
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:06,363
They later became regulars
at Antone's where they opened
for Muddy Waters.

934
00:56:06,406 --> 00:56:09,366
Muddy Waters was so taken
with the T-Birds
that he immediately

935
00:56:09,409 --> 00:56:12,499
made some calls to get them
booked into the blues clubs
he played.

936
00:56:13,326 --> 00:56:16,068
Antone's had been going
on for a long time,
and it was a whole big scene.

937
00:56:16,111 --> 00:56:19,376
But Albert King came to play,
and he--

938
00:56:19,419 --> 00:56:22,291
he would come and play five,
six nights in a row.

939
00:56:23,205 --> 00:56:26,992
And it was packed.
It was like on a Friday
or Saturday night...

940
00:56:27,035 --> 00:56:28,646
[engine revs]

941
00:56:37,611 --> 00:56:42,224
My Ford pisses off the little
hot rod guys around here

942
00:56:43,182 --> 00:56:45,793
because they hear the cam,
and they want to show me
what they got.

943
00:56:45,837 --> 00:56:47,621
[man laughs]

944
00:56:47,665 --> 00:56:50,885
So that was
just an example of that,
I hope you got that.

945
00:56:50,929 --> 00:56:53,322
The original Antone's
was here on this corner

946
00:56:53,366 --> 00:56:55,499
before they tore it down
and built this building.

947
00:56:56,630 --> 00:57:00,155
It was across the street
from the Driscoll Hotel
right here.

948
00:57:00,199 --> 00:57:01,983
And it was a grocery store.

949
00:57:03,028 --> 00:57:05,726
And, uh, this was it
right here.

950
00:57:07,815 --> 00:57:09,904
But it's gone, as you can see.

951
00:57:13,430 --> 00:57:15,606
Albert King, he's got
a sold-out place,

952
00:57:16,215 --> 00:57:20,306
rocking,
he's got his band there,
his whole big band.

953
00:57:20,349 --> 00:57:23,396
And he, uh--
so he's playing several nights.

954
00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:29,968
So Clifford goes to him,
he says, "I got this kid.
He wants to sit in with you."

955
00:57:30,011 --> 00:57:32,361
And, you know, nobody asked
Albert King to sit in.

956
00:57:33,667 --> 00:57:39,717
You gotta understand,
Albert is a big, menacing,
badass guy.

957
00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:41,849
Like, there's nothing
you could do

958
00:57:41,893 --> 00:57:45,244
if you sat in with Albert King
except suck, you know,

959
00:57:45,287 --> 00:57:47,289
because Albert King
is Albert King.

960
00:57:47,942 --> 00:57:50,336
So Clifford goes to Albert King
and says,

961
00:57:51,772 --> 00:57:56,690
"I want you to let
Stevie Vaughan sit in."

962
00:57:56,734 --> 00:57:59,954
Albert goes-- okay, you can
imagine what Albert says.

963
00:57:59,998 --> 00:58:01,565
So this happens three
or four times.

964
00:58:01,608 --> 00:58:04,437
And finally, he goes--
just to get Clifford to stop,

965
00:58:04,481 --> 00:58:06,570
he goes,
"Okay, let's get him up here."

966
00:58:07,701 --> 00:58:10,617
Finally. And so, um...

967
00:58:11,313 --> 00:58:13,054
Stevie got on the stage.

968
00:58:13,098 --> 00:58:15,796
I was there.
Everybody was there.

969
00:58:16,362 --> 00:58:18,843
Stevie got up there,
started playing Albert King
licks...

970
00:58:20,671 --> 00:58:23,151
With Albert King.
And so Albert King liked him

971
00:58:23,195 --> 00:58:25,066
because he was playing
Albert King licks.

972
00:58:25,893 --> 00:58:30,202
And, I mean, we used to sit
around the house and, uh,
copy Albert King.

973
00:58:30,245 --> 00:58:32,291
We're on 6th Street,
by the way.

974
00:58:32,334 --> 00:58:36,164
So Albert King
takes a liking to Stevie,
so that's when they met.

975
00:58:37,296 --> 00:58:39,428
So they became, uh, friends.

976
00:58:39,472 --> 00:58:45,260
And Stevie, in the meantime,
became kind
of a hot rock star.

977
00:58:45,652 --> 00:58:47,654
One of his first gigs was here.

978
00:58:47,698 --> 00:58:49,787
He would play here
on a different night.

979
00:58:49,830 --> 00:58:51,484
This was a great little
honky-tonk.

980
00:58:51,528 --> 00:58:53,486
We played here for years
and years...

981
00:58:54,922 --> 00:58:56,968
so we must've played here
five years, too.

982
00:58:57,882 --> 00:59:00,058
Thunderbirds played here,
though.

983
00:59:00,101 --> 00:59:02,626
["Lowdown in the Street,"
by ZZ Top]

984
00:59:06,064 --> 00:59:07,805
♪ Oh ♪

985
00:59:10,155 --> 00:59:15,943
♪ Well, there comes Lola
Out of control-a ♪

986
00:59:15,987 --> 00:59:18,816
♪ She just loves those rhythm
And blues ♪

987
00:59:20,295 --> 00:59:24,125
♪ And miss Ivy will be
Arriving... ♪

988
00:59:25,213 --> 00:59:27,868
There was a pizza joint
called the Rome Inn,

989
00:59:28,913 --> 00:59:31,132
and they would close

990
00:59:31,176 --> 00:59:36,355
on Sundays and Mondays,
and Mondays became Blue Monday,

991
00:59:37,138 --> 00:59:39,837
and The Thunderbirds
were putting their act together.

992
00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:44,406
Jimmie had just left Storm,
and those Monday nights
were epic.

993
00:59:44,929 --> 00:59:49,237
That was probably, uh, telling

994
00:59:49,281 --> 00:59:54,199
of what set the stage
for other bands

995
00:59:54,242 --> 00:59:57,985
that wanted to call themselves
a blues band could follow.

996
00:59:58,029 --> 01:00:01,380
[narrator] Billy Gibbons became
so enamored with the T-Birds
that he wrote a song

997
01:00:01,423 --> 01:00:05,819
about their weekly gigs
at the Rome Inn,
for ZZ Tops'Deguello a lbum.

998
01:00:06,167 --> 01:00:08,735
On any given Monday
night for the first year,

999
01:00:09,910 --> 01:00:15,220
there may have been,
at the most, 40, 50 people.
That was a good night.

1000
01:00:15,263 --> 01:00:19,485
I remember we got really
excited the first time we made
$200 at the door.

1001
01:00:19,528 --> 01:00:24,403
So, "All right, $50 a guy!"
We went and bought Italian shoes
or something.

1002
01:00:24,446 --> 01:00:28,320
Yeah. So it was pretty cool.
And it just kept building
from there. And we'd--

1003
01:00:28,363 --> 01:00:32,585
[narrator] At that time,
ZZ Top was dominating
the radio and record charts.

1004
01:00:32,629 --> 01:00:38,722
Once I got to Dallas,
every jukebox in the place
was ZZ Top.

1005
01:00:38,765 --> 01:00:42,160
-It was all that was there.
-[narrator] So think about that
for a moment.

1006
01:00:42,203 --> 01:00:44,597
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
were so cool

1007
01:00:44,641 --> 01:00:47,078
that Billy Gibbons wrote a song
about them.

1008
01:00:47,992 --> 01:00:53,606
[stammers]
I was taken with the clientele.
Um...

1009
01:00:54,781 --> 01:00:59,177
We'd fall through,
and one by one, I'd say,
"Now, who was that?"

1010
01:00:59,220 --> 01:01:02,006
And of course, I'd hang out
with Jimmie on the breaks.

1011
01:01:02,049 --> 01:01:04,312
And describe some
of the people that were
hanging around.

1012
01:01:04,356 --> 01:01:09,622
Miss Ivy was one of the--
one of the scenesters and, um...

1013
01:01:09,666 --> 01:01:14,105
[inhales, exhales]
Lola out of control-a was
this woman named Lois

1014
01:01:14,496 --> 01:01:17,891
we knew and...

1015
01:01:17,935 --> 01:01:21,852
I don't know, it's kind of--
it was a lot of fun.

1016
01:01:21,895 --> 01:01:23,897
Pretty deboshed, I guess,
in a lot of ways.

1017
01:01:23,941 --> 01:01:26,552
But we were having a great time,
and...

1018
01:01:27,074 --> 01:01:32,601
The lyrics, um, chronicled
all of the characters.

1019
01:01:32,645 --> 01:01:37,868
And, uh, sweet M.B.,
that was Mary Beth Greenwood.

1020
01:01:37,911 --> 01:01:42,873
Little GB was
Gretchen Barber.
Lola out of control-a, Miss Ivy.

1021
01:01:43,700 --> 01:01:47,878
I mean, these were some real
stalwart characters

1022
01:01:47,921 --> 01:01:49,575
that didn't miss a Monday
either.

1023
01:01:49,618 --> 01:01:52,709
We were all there and held down
that corner.

1024
01:01:52,752 --> 01:01:55,102
[chuckles] It was great.

1025
01:01:55,146 --> 01:01:57,278
["Lowdown in the Street,"
by ZZ Top]

1026
01:01:59,585 --> 01:02:02,066
♪ There's Jimmie and JoJo ♪

1027
01:02:02,109 --> 01:02:03,589
♪ There's Kim and Keith ♪

1028
01:02:05,243 --> 01:02:08,159
♪ Way outside the eyes
Of cool... ♪

1029
01:02:08,202 --> 01:02:12,685
I was so convinced
that these guys were gonna
bust out and-- and really

1030
01:02:12,729 --> 01:02:16,341
s-set this blues trail ablaze.

1031
01:02:16,384 --> 01:02:19,736
I decided, uh,
to share the secret,

1032
01:02:19,779 --> 01:02:23,914
and a buddy of mine and I
went down to Continental
Trailways

1033
01:02:23,957 --> 01:02:28,266
and did some inquiring
how we went about chartering
a bus.

1034
01:02:28,309 --> 01:02:32,096
It was pretty simple.
We just had it all set up,

1035
01:02:32,139 --> 01:02:36,840
put the word out a couple
of weeks in advance, and, uh...

1036
01:02:37,797 --> 01:02:41,453
the bus at that time
held 80 people,
and it was packed.

1037
01:02:41,496 --> 01:02:44,761
People were driving in
from Victoria, Texas,
San Antonio, Texas,

1038
01:02:44,804 --> 01:02:46,719
all the way from
the Mexican border

1039
01:02:47,285 --> 01:02:49,374
to be part of this Blue Monday
night.

1040
01:02:49,417 --> 01:02:53,944
And it was pretty, pretty rowdy.
[chuckles]

1041
01:02:53,987 --> 01:02:57,948
[narrator] At the same time,
younger brother Stevie
had made the move to Austin.

1042
01:02:57,991 --> 01:03:01,168
Stevie had formed a band
with Fort Worth blues singer,
Lou Ann Barton.

1043
01:03:01,212 --> 01:03:03,388
They billed themselves
as the Triple Threat Revue

1044
01:03:03,431 --> 01:03:05,433
and started playing small clubs
around Austin

1045
01:03:05,477 --> 01:03:06,870
before picking up a following.

1046
01:03:07,827 --> 01:03:09,786
["Good Texan,"
by Stevie Ray Vaughan]

1047
01:03:14,573 --> 01:03:17,663
♪ Say things to me
Like a cowgirl would ♪

1048
01:03:20,187 --> 01:03:22,320
[narrator]
Things were so hard early on

1049
01:03:22,363 --> 01:03:25,105
that Stevie was
sleeping on pool tables
and nearly starving.

1050
01:03:25,149 --> 01:03:29,283
[Connie] He would tell me
where he was going to be,

1051
01:03:29,327 --> 01:03:34,549
he'd call my friend,
Vickie Vernelson,
and we'd head down to Austin.

1052
01:03:34,593 --> 01:03:38,379
And I went down to Austin
most weekends that I could.

1053
01:03:38,423 --> 01:03:41,208
So we went down there
for one of our trips

1054
01:03:41,252 --> 01:03:44,211
and just realized that Stevie
was just practically starving
to death.

1055
01:03:44,951 --> 01:03:47,127
And he needed clothes,

1056
01:03:47,911 --> 01:03:52,176
and so Vicki and I took him out
shopping. [chuckles]

1057
01:03:52,219 --> 01:03:55,875
and we actually went to some,
you know, secondhand
clothing stuff

1058
01:03:55,919 --> 01:04:01,359
and just bought him some clothes
and took him out to eat and went
and got him some groceries.

1059
01:04:01,402 --> 01:04:04,666
[narrator] He was soon
playing the Rome Inn
every Sunday night

1060
01:04:04,710 --> 01:04:07,713
while Big Brother Jimmie
and the Thunderbirds played
every Monday.

1061
01:04:07,756 --> 01:04:09,715
[guitar intro of
"Pride and Joy"]

1062
01:04:15,373 --> 01:04:18,898
[narrator] During this time,
he got married to Lenny Bailey
at the Rome Inn,

1063
01:04:18,942 --> 01:04:22,206
a union
that was both inspiring,
codependent,

1064
01:04:22,249 --> 01:04:24,773
and tragic
all at the same time.

1065
01:04:25,600 --> 01:04:29,256
Stevie came down--
this was on a Blue Monday night.

1066
01:04:29,300 --> 01:04:33,608
And, uh, the band had taken
a break, and we all gathered.

1067
01:04:33,652 --> 01:04:38,048
There was a balcony upstairs
and, uh...

1068
01:04:38,657 --> 01:04:41,573
Stevie strolled over
and he said,

1069
01:04:42,226 --> 01:04:46,317
"You're sitting
with Gretchen and Mary Beth.
Would you guys come upstairs?"

1070
01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:50,321
He said,
"I'm gonna get married.
I'd like you to be there."

1071
01:04:50,364 --> 01:04:52,323
[narrator] While Jimmie
and the T-Birds were on

1072
01:04:52,366 --> 01:04:54,325
what looked like a track
to success,

1073
01:04:54,368 --> 01:04:57,241
brother Stevie was gaining
a dedicated following

1074
01:04:57,284 --> 01:05:00,418
but also fighting a drug
and alcohol addiction problem.

1075
01:05:00,461 --> 01:05:02,724
One night, Stevie was
cutting up a gram of coke

1076
01:05:02,768 --> 01:05:05,423
in front of an open window
at a club in Houston,

1077
01:05:05,466 --> 01:05:10,907
when he was spied by a Houston
police officer who just
happened to be walking by.

1078
01:05:10,950 --> 01:05:15,520
Stevie was promptly arrested
and charged with felony drug
possession.

1079
01:05:15,563 --> 01:05:20,220
He was in a downward spiral
that seemingly no one was able
to pull him out of.

1080
01:05:20,264 --> 01:05:24,094
His addiction issues
had reared its ugly head
early in his career.

1081
01:05:24,529 --> 01:05:27,836
We played for an SMU
fraternity party,
Liberation did,

1082
01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:33,233
and that night,
after the party was over,
as all the guests were leaving,

1083
01:05:33,277 --> 01:05:36,280
and we were
tearing down our equipment,
getting ready to load out,

1084
01:05:37,324 --> 01:05:40,197
Stevie was walking around
to all of the tables

1085
01:05:40,240 --> 01:05:43,940
where the audience had been,
where the fraternity guys
had been out there

1086
01:05:43,983 --> 01:05:48,509
with their girlfriends,
and was picking up still,
you know, cocktails

1087
01:05:48,553 --> 01:05:51,121
that still had something in them
or whatever and was drinking.

1088
01:05:51,164 --> 01:05:53,645
And that was the first sign
that Stevie was a drinker.

1089
01:05:53,688 --> 01:05:55,342
[Jimmie] My father was
an alcoholic.

1090
01:05:56,387 --> 01:06:00,521
He would go out
and drink too much
and get in trouble,

1091
01:06:01,131 --> 01:06:04,569
get pulled over and do things.

1092
01:06:04,612 --> 01:06:07,398
And I said, "Well, I'm never
going to drink!"

1093
01:06:08,529 --> 01:06:11,054
And then--
until I got my first drink,

1094
01:06:12,533 --> 01:06:15,623
and then I did the same thing.

1095
01:06:15,667 --> 01:06:17,190
Over and over and over.

1096
01:06:17,234 --> 01:06:20,367
And then I got into
some other stuff,

1097
01:06:20,411 --> 01:06:23,631
and I got in
some other stuff and, uh,

1098
01:06:23,675 --> 01:06:26,417
and then I--

1099
01:06:26,460 --> 01:06:33,032
well, my little brother did
what I did, usually.

1100
01:06:33,076 --> 01:06:37,645
Uh, and so he heard that I was
getting high

1101
01:06:37,689 --> 01:06:42,041
and playing all night
and doing all this stuff.

1102
01:06:42,085 --> 01:06:46,002
And I'm sure he went
and tried it and, um...

1103
01:06:47,133 --> 01:06:51,616
You know, but he collapsed
in Europe, uh...

1104
01:06:52,573 --> 01:06:56,229
always trying to take it further
than the next guy.

1105
01:06:56,273 --> 01:06:57,709
[narrator]
Despite his addictions,

1106
01:06:57,752 --> 01:06:59,493
Stevie was always
able to show up

1107
01:06:59,537 --> 01:07:03,193
and play blistering sets
that left people slack-jawed.

1108
01:07:03,236 --> 01:07:05,325
No matter how wasted
he was, he still put on

1109
01:07:05,369 --> 01:07:08,807
an incredible performance,
hitting all the notes.

1110
01:07:08,850 --> 01:07:11,853
I saw this in person
when he played a free show
in Lee Park for us

1111
01:07:11,897 --> 01:07:14,291
while I was atBuddy magazine.

1112
01:07:14,334 --> 01:07:18,077
One look into his eyes,
and you can tell that he was
on something,

1113
01:07:18,121 --> 01:07:20,297
but he put on a great show
that day,

1114
01:07:20,340 --> 01:07:22,212
even though he wasn't getting
paid for it.

1115
01:07:22,255 --> 01:07:24,779
And he didn't miss a lick.

1116
01:07:24,823 --> 01:07:28,914
The original
Double Trouble lineup
featured Stevie on guitar,

1117
01:07:28,957 --> 01:07:33,049
drummer Chris Layton,
and bassist Jack Newhouse.

1118
01:07:33,092 --> 01:07:36,139
One night, during a gig
at the Houston nightclub,
Rockefeller's,

1119
01:07:36,182 --> 01:07:38,619
Buddy magazine had sponsored
the show,

1120
01:07:38,663 --> 01:07:42,841
and as part of the evening,
we gave away a free
Hamer guitar.

1121
01:07:42,884 --> 01:07:45,104
Tommy Shannon came in to see
the band that evening

1122
01:07:45,148 --> 01:07:46,975
and immediately wanted to be
a part of it.

1123
01:07:47,019 --> 01:07:48,586
Once he joined on bass,

1124
01:07:48,629 --> 01:07:50,675
the lineup that most people
know was sealed.

1125
01:07:52,242 --> 01:07:54,374
Double Trouble embarked
on a tour of nightclubs

1126
01:07:54,418 --> 01:07:57,116
and bars
looking for their big break.

1127
01:07:57,160 --> 01:08:00,163
♪ Well, I'm lovestruck, baby
I must confess ♪

1128
01:08:00,206 --> 01:08:02,730
♪ Life without you, darlin'
Is a solid mess ♪

1129
01:08:02,774 --> 01:08:05,385
♪ Thinkin' bout you, baby
Gives me such a thrill ♪

1130
01:08:05,429 --> 01:08:08,519
♪ I gotta have you, baby
Can't get my fill ♪

1131
01:08:08,562 --> 01:08:12,088
♪ I love you, baby, and I know
Just what to do ♪

1132
01:08:14,264 --> 01:08:16,744
♪ I still remember
And let it be said ♪

1133
01:08:16,788 --> 01:08:19,573
♪ The way you make me feel'd
Take a fool to forget ♪

1134
01:08:19,617 --> 01:08:22,489
♪ I swore a ton of bricks
Had hit me in the head ♪

1135
01:08:22,533 --> 01:08:26,450
♪ And what you do, little baby
Ain't over it yet ♪

1136
01:08:26,493 --> 01:08:29,975
[narrator] And it came
during a performance
at the Montreux Jazz Festival

1137
01:08:30,018 --> 01:08:34,066
where David Bowie
got a taste of Double Trouble
in action.

1138
01:08:34,110 --> 01:08:36,547
It also introduced him
to Jackson Browne.

1139
01:08:36,590 --> 01:08:39,506
I was at Montreux,
and I played, and we were done
playing--

1140
01:08:39,550 --> 01:08:41,552
As a matter of fact,
I was doing an interview
like this.

1141
01:08:41,595 --> 01:08:44,729
They were doing
a set in the artists' area
for other musicians,

1142
01:08:44,772 --> 01:08:48,385
and it was astonishing,
you know, what he was doing
was just--

1143
01:08:48,428 --> 01:08:53,999
he just blew everybody away,
and the guys in my band
particularly.

1144
01:08:54,042 --> 01:08:55,435
So I went down there
and heard him

1145
01:08:55,479 --> 01:08:57,350
and listened to the rest
of what he was doing,

1146
01:08:57,394 --> 01:08:59,135
and at some point,
they took a break, you know.

1147
01:08:59,178 --> 01:09:01,572
It led to him inviting me
to sit in.

1148
01:09:01,615 --> 01:09:04,401
The show wasn't a matter
of playing, you know,
I barely hung onto my guitar.

1149
01:09:04,444 --> 01:09:07,752
It was just like, hang on,
you know?

1150
01:09:07,795 --> 01:09:10,711
[narrator] This chance encounter
led to Stevie being asked
to perform

1151
01:09:10,755 --> 01:09:13,236
on Bowie's comeback album
Let's Dance.

1152
01:09:13,888 --> 01:09:19,242
I walked into a newly
opened after hours club
called The Continental.

1153
01:09:19,285 --> 01:09:23,420
I was with Billy Idol one night,
and we walked in,
and Billy went,

1154
01:09:24,682 --> 01:09:28,555
[imitates accent]
"Bloody hell, that's David
effin' Bowie!"

1155
01:09:28,599 --> 01:09:33,647
[normal voice]
And we saw David sitting
all by himself at the back bar,

1156
01:09:33,691 --> 01:09:37,216
drinking a glass
of orange juice.
He and I started talking.

1157
01:09:37,260 --> 01:09:40,872
We decided that we'd work
together, and, uh--

1158
01:09:40,915 --> 01:09:43,483
and it all just happened very,
very quickly.

1159
01:09:43,527 --> 01:09:46,530
Basically, David just dumped
the project in my hand.

1160
01:09:47,705 --> 01:09:52,710
He just said, "Hey, you see it,
you understand what I'm talking
about.

1161
01:09:52,753 --> 01:09:54,407
You deal with it."

1162
01:09:54,451 --> 01:09:56,975
The only thing that David
introduced

1163
01:09:57,018 --> 01:10:00,457
to the record that, um--

1164
01:10:00,500 --> 01:10:04,112
other than being David Bowie
and choosing great songs,

1165
01:10:04,983 --> 01:10:08,421
was this interesting
new guitar player
named Stevie Ray Vaughan

1166
01:10:08,856 --> 01:10:12,164
that he had only heard once
in Montreux Jazz Festival.

1167
01:10:12,208 --> 01:10:16,342
So when Stevie walked
into the studio,

1168
01:10:16,386 --> 01:10:18,779
the first thing we played
for him was Let's Dance.

1169
01:10:21,956 --> 01:10:23,349
I'll never forget this, man.

1170
01:10:24,872 --> 01:10:26,874
We became friends for the rest
of our lives.

1171
01:10:26,918 --> 01:10:29,747
He walked into the studio,

1172
01:10:29,790 --> 01:10:32,271
he looked at the speakers,
and he listened to the track,

1173
01:10:33,316 --> 01:10:35,448
and he was just blown away.

1174
01:10:35,492 --> 01:10:37,798
He knew that he was hearing
something magical.

1175
01:10:38,495 --> 01:10:44,544
And as with all good musicians
that I respect,

1176
01:10:46,372 --> 01:10:48,722
I could see him trying
to compute

1177
01:10:48,766 --> 01:10:52,335
how he's
gonna fit in this thing
that's already magical.

1178
01:10:52,378 --> 01:10:54,902
Like, "This is already great.
What do I do?"

1179
01:10:55,686 --> 01:10:57,557
Um...

1180
01:10:57,601 --> 01:10:59,037
He did very little.

1181
01:10:59,080 --> 01:11:02,432
But boy, that little bit he did
was amazing.

1182
01:11:02,475 --> 01:11:04,172
It was like unbelievable.

1183
01:11:04,216 --> 01:11:06,392
["Let's Dance" playing]

1184
01:11:12,703 --> 01:11:15,183
[narrator] His guitar work
gave the LP a different sound

1185
01:11:15,227 --> 01:11:17,273
than Bowie had shown
on previous records,

1186
01:11:17,316 --> 01:11:20,014
and it was a huge hit
with both the public
and critics.

1187
01:11:20,363 --> 01:11:22,060
[Nile] These are all one-take
solos.

1188
01:11:22,103 --> 01:11:24,367
I mean, it took me no time
to make that record.

1189
01:11:25,063 --> 01:11:27,892
And with the injection
of Stevie,

1190
01:11:27,935 --> 01:11:30,721
which added a completely
different dimension,

1191
01:11:30,764 --> 01:11:33,332
a whole other way of looking
at the song,

1192
01:11:34,115 --> 01:11:40,383
it was really-- it was just
something magical,

1193
01:11:40,426 --> 01:11:42,385
something really...

1194
01:11:44,256 --> 01:11:46,476
I don't think I've ever had
a recording session

1195
01:11:47,738 --> 01:11:52,264
like that since...
um, or before.

1196
01:11:52,308 --> 01:11:57,008
It was just one
of those really crazy things
that makes no sense.

1197
01:11:57,051 --> 01:12:00,316
[narrator]
As hard as it may be for
people today to understand,

1198
01:12:00,359 --> 01:12:04,668
a record contract
was the Holy Grail
for a rock band at that time.

1199
01:12:04,711 --> 01:12:08,149
With no iTunes, Internet,
or free downloads,

1200
01:12:08,193 --> 01:12:12,719
a record deal meant your album
would be displayed in record
stores across America,

1201
01:12:12,763 --> 01:12:17,202
bringing in millions of dollars
in royalties if you had a hit.

1202
01:12:17,245 --> 01:12:20,423
So when
The Fabulous Thunderbirds got
picked up by Tacoma Records,

1203
01:12:20,466 --> 01:12:25,123
a division of Chrysalis,
they'd finally "made it"
in many people's eyes.

1204
01:12:25,166 --> 01:12:28,344
[Jimmie]
We played for five years
before we ever had a record.

1205
01:12:28,822 --> 01:12:33,000
Ray Benson would play at--

1206
01:12:33,044 --> 01:12:36,830
from Asleep at the Wheel--
we would play shows with him
sometimes,

1207
01:12:36,874 --> 01:12:40,704
and he said, "Hey, I know a guy
that does the blues,"

1208
01:12:40,747 --> 01:12:42,749
uh, a record company.

1209
01:12:42,793 --> 01:12:44,969
And he told Denny Bruce
about us.

1210
01:12:45,012 --> 01:12:48,799
Denny Bruce came from L.A.
to Austin,

1211
01:12:48,842 --> 01:12:53,064
heard us play and got us
a record deal on Tacoma.

1212
01:12:53,107 --> 01:12:55,458
[narrator] They went into
Sumet-Bernet Studios in Dallas

1213
01:12:55,501 --> 01:12:59,287
to record their breakout LP
"Girls Go Wild."

1214
01:12:59,331 --> 01:13:01,551
[Jimmie] By the way, Mike Buck
thought of Girls Go Wild.

1215
01:13:01,594 --> 01:13:05,642
I don't know where he got it,
but we made our album,

1216
01:13:06,251 --> 01:13:08,819
and we said, "Okay, what are we
going to name it?"

1217
01:13:08,862 --> 01:13:12,866
And everybody had something,
you know,
said something.

1218
01:13:12,910 --> 01:13:16,827
And Mike goes, "Why don't we
call it Girls Go Wild?"

1219
01:13:16,870 --> 01:13:20,221
And we're like, "What?"
He said, "Girls Go Wild,"

1220
01:13:20,265 --> 01:13:22,920
and we were like,
"You can do that?"
You know?

1221
01:13:22,963 --> 01:13:25,879
It's like,
"That's the coolest name
we've ever heard of!"

1222
01:13:25,923 --> 01:13:28,969
It has nothing to do
with anything, but we're gonna
say it anyway.

1223
01:13:29,013 --> 01:13:34,975
Keith and I both had, uh,
pretty large record
collections, a lot of 45s.

1224
01:13:35,323 --> 01:13:37,151
It'd usually be...

1225
01:13:38,109 --> 01:13:39,980
one of ours, you know.

1226
01:13:40,024 --> 01:13:42,200
One of us will bring
the song in,

1227
01:13:43,767 --> 01:13:48,641
like I had the record
"Marked Deck" by this guy
from Dallas, Mercy Baby.

1228
01:13:48,685 --> 01:13:50,643
He was a drummer
for Frankie Lee Sims.

1229
01:13:50,687 --> 01:13:52,906
And of course Jimmie had a lot
of good stuff, too.

1230
01:13:52,950 --> 01:13:55,866
He was--
Everybody had pretty good taste,
you know.

1231
01:13:55,909 --> 01:13:58,521
[narrator] It was recorded live,
meaning that the band

1232
01:13:58,564 --> 01:14:01,480
played as a unit
with very few overdubs.

1233
01:14:01,524 --> 01:14:03,787
Although it did not top
the Billboard charts

1234
01:14:03,830 --> 01:14:06,964
at the time of its release,
Girls Go Wild gained
a reputation

1235
01:14:07,007 --> 01:14:10,010
as the album that
introduced the Texas
Roadhouse Blues

1236
01:14:10,054 --> 01:14:12,404
to a white
suburban audience.

1237
01:14:12,448 --> 01:14:15,102
♪ She walk past a clock ♪

1238
01:14:15,146 --> 01:14:17,409
♪ The clock won't tell time ♪

1239
01:14:17,453 --> 01:14:19,672
♪ She walk through
The college ♪

1240
01:14:19,716 --> 01:14:21,369
♪ Professor lose his mind ♪

1241
01:14:21,413 --> 01:14:22,675
♪ But she's tough ♪

1242
01:14:24,460 --> 01:14:26,897
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, she's tough ♪

1243
01:14:30,335 --> 01:14:32,337
♪ My baby's tough ♪

1244
01:14:32,380 --> 01:14:34,861
♪ She's rough and tough ♪

1245
01:14:34,905 --> 01:14:38,169
[laughter]
♪ And that's tough enough ♪

1246
01:14:41,128 --> 01:14:43,957
[narrator] A short time later,
Jimmie and The Fabulous
Thunderbirds

1247
01:14:44,001 --> 01:14:47,395
received what was
basically a fan letter
from Carlos Santana

1248
01:14:47,439 --> 01:14:51,878
when he asked them to record
an entire album with him
titledHavana Moon.

1249
01:14:51,922 --> 01:14:55,795
He came to a couple
of our gigs, and, uh--

1250
01:14:55,839 --> 01:14:58,972
and we said,
"Hey, Carlos Santana,
sit in with us."

1251
01:14:59,016 --> 01:15:02,062
And so he would sit in with us
and we would play.

1252
01:15:02,106 --> 01:15:06,023
And he said-- he said, "Man,
I like you guys because..."
he said,

1253
01:15:06,066 --> 01:15:09,635
"From the audience,
you can smell the tubes burning
in your amp."

1254
01:15:10,680 --> 01:15:14,074
You know, it's just a very
Carlos thing to say,
you know?

1255
01:15:14,118 --> 01:15:17,295
[narrator] Meanwhile,
brother Stevie was discovered

1256
01:15:17,338 --> 01:15:21,168
by the man
who had signed Bob Dylan
to his first record contract.

1257
01:15:21,212 --> 01:15:22,996
Hammond had become aware
of Double Trouble

1258
01:15:23,040 --> 01:15:26,434
and persuaded CBS Records
to sign the trio.

1259
01:15:26,478 --> 01:15:30,221
As evidence of his influence,
Hammer was photographed
with the band

1260
01:15:30,264 --> 01:15:31,744
on the back of the album cover.

1261
01:15:33,311 --> 01:15:36,836
Jack Chase, the head
of CBS Records in Dallas,

1262
01:15:36,880 --> 01:15:39,796
facilitated the signing
of the contract with Stevie.

1263
01:15:41,362 --> 01:15:44,844
He also personally committed
to sell 25,000 units

1264
01:15:44,888 --> 01:15:48,544
of Stevie's new album from
the Dallas branch alone.

1265
01:15:48,587 --> 01:15:52,069
The entire LP was recorded
in Jackson Browne's studio.

1266
01:15:52,722 --> 01:15:56,552
"Hey, if you're ever
in L.A., you know, come by
and we'll do some recordings,"

1267
01:15:56,595 --> 01:15:58,249
something like that,
and the same thing with them.

1268
01:15:58,292 --> 01:16:00,381
Like, a month later,
they're like, "We're here.

1269
01:16:00,425 --> 01:16:03,080
We're here to make
our album." Okay.

1270
01:16:03,123 --> 01:16:07,345
I was in the studios right
before Thanksgiving,
and it was Stevie, he said,

1271
01:16:07,388 --> 01:16:10,217
"Well, we're almost there."

1272
01:16:10,261 --> 01:16:13,960
[stammers]
He was like in Bakersfield
or someplace, Victorville.

1273
01:16:14,004 --> 01:16:16,180
He said,
"We're on our way there."
And...

1274
01:16:16,223 --> 01:16:17,921
And the timing is pretty good

1275
01:16:17,964 --> 01:16:20,793
because we were about to stop
recording for Thanksgiving.

1276
01:16:21,185 --> 01:16:24,101
Everybody had stuff to do.
Everybody had things planned
with their family.

1277
01:16:24,144 --> 01:16:27,670
So they came,
and they set up, you know,
and we started recording.

1278
01:16:27,713 --> 01:16:29,889
And I thought... [clicks tongue]
Uh...

1279
01:16:31,499 --> 01:16:34,111
[stammers]
Well, I asked my engineer,
Greg LaDonis,

1280
01:16:34,154 --> 01:16:36,635
so like, "Do you want to, like,
stay?" And I mean...

1281
01:16:36,679 --> 01:16:38,506
I could give him
the week, you know,

1282
01:16:38,550 --> 01:16:40,552
"Do you want to stay
and do this?"

1283
01:16:40,596 --> 01:16:44,861
[stammers] He had family, too.
He had stuff to do, to plan,
like that.

1284
01:16:44,904 --> 01:16:47,385
And my second engineer,
James Geddes said,

1285
01:16:48,778 --> 01:16:49,996
"I can do it."

1286
01:16:51,084 --> 01:16:54,218
And after Texas Flood
came out,

1287
01:16:55,611 --> 01:16:58,135
-they gave me a horse.
-[horse grunts]

1288
01:16:58,178 --> 01:17:00,616
They gave me a horse,
which I named Rave On.

1289
01:17:00,659 --> 01:17:04,576
It was beautiful paint
from some breeder
at Manor Downs.

1290
01:17:05,795 --> 01:17:09,189
It was like a gift from them,
like a thank-you gift for
this time in the studio.

1291
01:17:09,233 --> 01:17:13,367
So I don't know if anybody's
ever given you a horse,
but it's like the gift is,

1292
01:17:13,411 --> 01:17:16,675
you know, it's something
you have to feed
for the rest of its life.

1293
01:17:18,111 --> 01:17:22,899
I called Chris and Tommy
and said, "You want
this horse back?"

1294
01:17:22,942 --> 01:17:25,466
And they were like,
"No, we don't want a horse.

1295
01:17:25,510 --> 01:17:29,427
No, that's your horse."
[laughs]

1296
01:17:29,819 --> 01:17:34,998
Stevie and Chris and Tommy
were great, great pe--
colorful people

1297
01:17:35,041 --> 01:17:36,782
and, like, just so badass.

1298
01:17:36,826 --> 01:17:38,915
[narrator]
The timing somewhat ironic

1299
01:17:38,958 --> 01:17:40,917
because Stevie had been tapped
to play guitar

1300
01:17:40,960 --> 01:17:43,441
on Bowie's upcoming
Serious Moonlight tour

1301
01:17:43,484 --> 01:17:46,139
in support of Let's Dance.

1302
01:17:46,183 --> 01:17:49,534
Rehearsals
were underway in Irving,
a suburb near Dallas

1303
01:17:49,577 --> 01:17:53,930
at a soundstage located
in the Studios at Los Colinas.

1304
01:17:53,973 --> 01:17:58,021
During these rehearsals,
Bowie made it known that once
he embarked on the tour,

1305
01:17:58,064 --> 01:18:01,285
Stevie was not permitted
to promote his new album.

1306
01:18:01,328 --> 01:18:05,245
He was to be the guitar player
for Bowie's band, period,

1307
01:18:05,289 --> 01:18:08,422
and help promoteLet's Dance.

1308
01:18:08,466 --> 01:18:12,557
Faced with a tough decision,
Stevie chose his album
over Bowie's

1309
01:18:12,600 --> 01:18:15,647
and was dismissed before
the tour even started.

1310
01:18:15,691 --> 01:18:18,998
The rock press had a field day
speculating that Stevie

1311
01:18:19,042 --> 01:18:22,698
had made a cocaine decision
and a big mistake,

1312
01:18:22,741 --> 01:18:25,526
but it turned out
that it was the right move.

1313
01:18:25,570 --> 01:18:28,486
Texas Flood was a breakout
album.

1314
01:18:28,529 --> 01:18:31,837
It thrust Stevie Ray Vaughan
and Double Trouble
into the spotlight,

1315
01:18:31,881 --> 01:18:36,059
earning accolades from both
blues and rock fans alike.

1316
01:18:36,102 --> 01:18:39,018
Now both of the Vaughan
brothers had hit the top.

1317
01:18:39,062 --> 01:18:41,020
It was a stunning achievement
for two kids

1318
01:18:41,064 --> 01:18:44,502
from a working-class Dallas
neighborhood.

1319
01:18:44,545 --> 01:18:48,593
With success came more money,
and with more money came
more opportunities

1320
01:18:48,636 --> 01:18:51,988
for an addictive personality
like Stevie.

1321
01:18:52,031 --> 01:18:54,817
He and Lenny were now doing
large amounts of cocaine

1322
01:18:54,860 --> 01:18:58,429
along with heavy drinking,
and it wasn't pretty.

1323
01:18:58,472 --> 01:19:02,520
By now, Jimmie had reached
the end of his run with The
Fabulous Thunderbirds.

1324
01:19:02,563 --> 01:19:05,131
Jimmie felt like he had done
all he could do,

1325
01:19:05,175 --> 01:19:09,135
so he left the band
that he had founded
and embarked on a solo career.

1326
01:19:09,179 --> 01:19:11,747
Meanwhile, brother Stevie
was getting higher,

1327
01:19:11,790 --> 01:19:14,401
both literally
and figuratively.

1328
01:19:14,445 --> 01:19:16,839
His subsequent LPs
were selling well,

1329
01:19:16,882 --> 01:19:19,885
and his live shows
were the stuff of legend.

1330
01:19:19,929 --> 01:19:23,541
But the daily intake of cocaine
and liquor were taking a toll.

1331
01:19:23,584 --> 01:19:28,328
When you're in the top ten,
you're selling 150,000 a week,
something like that,

1332
01:19:29,590 --> 01:19:32,115
and you get really fat gigs.

1333
01:19:32,158 --> 01:19:33,464
Everybody wants you.

1334
01:19:33,507 --> 01:19:35,118
-[guitar playing]
-[no audible dialogue]

1335
01:20:32,218 --> 01:20:34,612
The Grammys,
everybody wants you.

1336
01:20:34,655 --> 01:20:36,919
George Thorogood
and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

1337
01:20:36,962 --> 01:20:38,616
-Do you idolize them?
-[crowd cheering]

1338
01:20:40,661 --> 01:20:44,100
You idolize them
just like the rest of us
to make this presentation.

1339
01:20:44,143 --> 01:20:46,711
Ladies and gentlemen,
once again, Mr. Chuck Berry.

1340
01:20:46,754 --> 01:20:50,236
You know, so, it's a good time
in that sense,

1341
01:20:51,063 --> 01:20:54,632
but it's hard
to keep it up every day,
drinking and drugging

1342
01:20:54,675 --> 01:20:58,027
and trying to medicate yourself
so you can get to the next gig.

1343
01:20:58,070 --> 01:21:00,986
And do good and, you know,
all this stuff.

1344
01:21:01,030 --> 01:21:05,425
So it all sort of--
it's like a snowball going down
the hill.

1345
01:21:05,469 --> 01:21:07,819
You know? [grunts]
It gets faster and faster

1346
01:21:07,863 --> 01:21:10,300
and faster and faster.
And sometimes, you know...

1347
01:21:10,343 --> 01:21:11,649
[smacks]

1348
01:21:13,346 --> 01:21:16,262
[narrator] Some of his closest
friends were worried.

1349
01:21:16,306 --> 01:21:18,917
Others tried to placate him
with the phrase,

1350
01:21:18,961 --> 01:21:22,399
"It's a Stevie world,
and we're all lucky
to be here."

1351
01:21:22,442 --> 01:21:25,619
After collapsing
during a tour in Europe,
he went into rehab.

1352
01:21:25,663 --> 01:21:29,928
I think either the next day
I heard that he had taken a fall

1353
01:21:29,972 --> 01:21:33,149
or that he was, you know--
and he was in the hospital

1354
01:21:34,628 --> 01:21:36,717
and that he was--

1355
01:21:37,066 --> 01:21:40,634
and what he told me was that
Eric had come to see him.

1356
01:21:41,418 --> 01:21:45,639
I called my friend Eric Clapton,
who was down the road.

1357
01:21:45,683 --> 01:21:48,555
Eric came over and visited him

1358
01:21:48,599 --> 01:21:50,688
that same day.

1359
01:21:50,731 --> 01:21:53,517
And they started talking about
getting sober.

1360
01:21:55,911 --> 01:21:58,391
[stammers]
And they had kind of
a meeting of the minds.

1361
01:21:58,435 --> 01:22:00,654
I think Eric sort of--

1362
01:22:01,438 --> 01:22:03,483
Eric Clapton, uh...

1363
01:22:07,009 --> 01:22:08,749
was able to...

1364
01:22:09,707 --> 01:22:14,799
to help him understand that
it wasn't being high
that let him play.

1365
01:22:14,842 --> 01:22:19,064
He's playing
in spite of being high,
and that he was, you know,

1366
01:22:19,108 --> 01:22:21,284
and that was not a way--
that was not a way to go.

1367
01:22:21,327 --> 01:22:26,767
For those guys to get clean,
you know, Jimmie and Stevie,

1368
01:22:26,811 --> 01:22:31,076
was like an affirmation to me
that I was on the right road.

1369
01:22:31,120 --> 01:22:33,165
You know, I didn't--
I felt a little bit lonely.

1370
01:22:33,209 --> 01:22:37,387
And I only had like a year
in front of either of the guys.

1371
01:22:37,430 --> 01:22:41,957
I mean, but not many other
people were getting straight
when I was getting straight.

1372
01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:46,831
And-- but I got straight
because I was convinced
they were going to lock me up.

1373
01:22:47,571 --> 01:22:50,095
And I didn't want to be
in a mental asylum.

1374
01:22:50,139 --> 01:22:52,532
I didn't really want to be
in an institution,

1375
01:22:52,576 --> 01:22:56,145
you know, uh, sanitariums
they used to call them.

1376
01:22:56,188 --> 01:22:59,017
And, uh, I could see that was
on the cards.

1377
01:22:59,061 --> 01:23:01,628
And so when those guys
got clean,

1378
01:23:02,368 --> 01:23:04,936
I thought,
"Well, I got company now."

1379
01:23:05,502 --> 01:23:10,986
Stevie caught the bug
and got sober
to everyone's amazement.

1380
01:23:11,421 --> 01:23:14,990
Like, when I was a kid,
my dad's friends,
they would drink.

1381
01:23:15,033 --> 01:23:17,340
They were just called
"drinking men."

1382
01:23:17,383 --> 01:23:21,953
You know?
Nobody would admit or--

1383
01:23:23,128 --> 01:23:25,391
I never heard of anybody
getting sober.

1384
01:23:26,088 --> 01:23:29,004
You know,
when I was a kid, I was like,

1385
01:23:29,047 --> 01:23:31,006
like you couldn't handle it
or something.

1386
01:23:31,049 --> 01:23:33,399
You know?
Who wants to admit that?

1387
01:23:33,443 --> 01:23:35,358
That was the thinking.

1388
01:23:35,401 --> 01:23:38,535
And so Stevie actually went
to treatment

1389
01:23:38,578 --> 01:23:41,451
and got sober.

1390
01:23:42,713 --> 01:23:45,150
Five years later, I got sober.

1391
01:23:46,760 --> 01:23:48,849
[narrator] Now that he had
licked his addiction,

1392
01:23:48,893 --> 01:23:52,331
Stevie wondered
if he could make music
the same way again.

1393
01:23:52,375 --> 01:23:58,033
He was reassured that he had
not lost any of his chops
when he recordedIn Step.

1394
01:23:58,076 --> 01:24:02,211
Once the album came out,
it was the biggest selling
record of his career

1395
01:24:02,254 --> 01:24:05,257
and earned him
a Grammy Award.

1396
01:24:05,301 --> 01:24:08,086
With his addiction issues
apparently beaten,

1397
01:24:08,130 --> 01:24:11,176
a divorce from Lenny
and a new outlook,

1398
01:24:11,220 --> 01:24:13,483
Stevie moved back in
with his mother in Oak Cliff

1399
01:24:13,526 --> 01:24:16,747
at the family home
on Glenfield Avenue.

1400
01:24:16,790 --> 01:24:21,404
It was back to his roots
in his old neighborhood
near Kiest Park.

1401
01:24:21,447 --> 01:24:25,408
During this time,
he met a young model
named Janna Lapidus.

1402
01:24:25,451 --> 01:24:28,802
The Vaughan brothers were now
part of Texas guitar royalty,

1403
01:24:28,846 --> 01:24:32,850
ranked in alongside
other legendary players
like Billy Gibbons,

1404
01:24:32,893 --> 01:24:35,722
Johnny Winter,
and Steve Miller.

1405
01:24:35,766 --> 01:24:38,856
Years earlier,
Jimmie confided
toBuddy magazine

1406
01:24:38,899 --> 01:24:44,122
that he wanted
to make an album with Stevie,
and now he had the chance.

1407
01:24:44,166 --> 01:24:46,385
The album would be recorded
with the man behind

1408
01:24:46,429 --> 01:24:50,172
Chic'sFreak Out
and Bowie's Let's Dance
at the helm,

1409
01:24:50,215 --> 01:24:52,565
legendary producer
Nile Rodgers.

1410
01:24:52,609 --> 01:24:53,914
♪ Aw, freak out! ♪

1411
01:24:55,002 --> 01:24:56,700
♪ Le freak, c'est chic ♪

1412
01:24:56,743 --> 01:24:58,093
♪ Freak out! ♪

1413
01:25:00,443 --> 01:25:03,010
-♪ Aw, freak out! ♪
-[narrator] It was an odd
combination.

1414
01:25:03,054 --> 01:25:05,839
A producer with disco hits
like "Freak Out"

1415
01:25:05,883 --> 01:25:10,279
and two white boys
playing the blues,
but it worked marvelously.

1416
01:25:10,322 --> 01:25:13,195
Family Style
came together in
such a great way,

1417
01:25:13,238 --> 01:25:17,286
because now I already have
a relationship
with Stevie,

1418
01:25:17,329 --> 01:25:19,810
and I have a separate
relationship with Jimmie.

1419
01:25:21,028 --> 01:25:25,685
This is really interesting,

1420
01:25:25,729 --> 01:25:30,386
because these are two brothers
who adored each other,

1421
01:25:30,429 --> 01:25:33,867
loved each other,
but never made
a record together.

1422
01:25:33,911 --> 01:25:36,566
[narrator] After all the songs
were recorded,

1423
01:25:36,609 --> 01:25:38,829
before the final touches
were made,

1424
01:25:38,872 --> 01:25:41,745
Stevie and Jimmie went
to play an outdoor festival
in Wisconsin

1425
01:25:41,788 --> 01:25:45,314
with longtime fan and friend,
Eric Clapton.

1426
01:25:45,357 --> 01:25:47,403
[Eric] I remember sitting
in my dressing room

1427
01:25:47,446 --> 01:25:50,406
listening to him play
that night,

1428
01:25:50,449 --> 01:25:53,322
and it was also on the TV.

1429
01:25:53,365 --> 01:25:57,456
It was like-- they had
a setup when I was sitting
in my dressing room.

1430
01:25:57,500 --> 01:26:00,459
I didn't go out on the wing,
because sometimes it's better

1431
01:26:00,503 --> 01:26:01,939
when you're
in the dressing room.

1432
01:26:01,982 --> 01:26:03,897
You hear it better
and you don't have to talk.

1433
01:26:03,941 --> 01:26:06,073
Nobody gonna talk to you
or bother you.

1434
01:26:06,117 --> 01:26:09,251
And I was sitting, watching him
on TV and thinking,

1435
01:26:09,294 --> 01:26:11,818
I don't really want to go on
after this.

1436
01:26:11,862 --> 01:26:13,907
This is, uh...

1437
01:26:13,951 --> 01:26:15,909
you have to either ignore this,

1438
01:26:15,953 --> 01:26:18,390
or just, you know, give it up
or whatever.

1439
01:26:18,434 --> 01:26:19,870
I mean, it doesn't happen.

1440
01:26:19,913 --> 01:26:23,482
In the end you go on--
I go on and do my thing,

1441
01:26:23,526 --> 01:26:25,832
even though I think
it's whatever.

1442
01:26:25,876 --> 01:26:29,009
But I mean, he nailed it,
you know.

1443
01:26:29,053 --> 01:26:31,882
Absolutely.

1444
01:26:31,925 --> 01:26:34,232
[narrator]
When the show was over,
Stevie took a seat

1445
01:26:34,276 --> 01:26:37,453
in one of the helicopters
while brother Jimmie
stayed behind.

1446
01:26:39,019 --> 01:26:42,066
It was foggy that night
when the copter took off.

1447
01:26:42,109 --> 01:26:43,894
It never made it.

1448
01:26:45,678 --> 01:26:48,464
The night I was there,

1449
01:26:48,507 --> 01:26:51,162
there was some weather, and...

1450
01:26:53,338 --> 01:26:55,906
Stevie comes in the room
and says...

1451
01:26:57,081 --> 01:26:58,561
this is before cell phones.

1452
01:26:58,604 --> 01:27:00,389
There was one seat open.
And Stevie said,

1453
01:27:00,432 --> 01:27:02,608
"I'm going to go home early,

1454
01:27:02,652 --> 01:27:05,132
and I'm going to go call
my girlfriend."

1455
01:27:07,526 --> 01:27:11,443
And I said-- I did
the big brother thing on him.

1456
01:27:11,487 --> 01:27:13,315
I said, "Look..."

1457
01:27:13,358 --> 01:27:17,449
I said, "I came all the way
up here to see you.

1458
01:27:19,277 --> 01:27:20,931
You're going to go home early?"

1459
01:27:20,974 --> 01:27:23,281
I did one of those things
on him.

1460
01:27:23,325 --> 01:27:24,978
And he looked right at me
and he says,

1461
01:27:25,022 --> 01:27:27,154
"You don't understand.
I gotta go."

1462
01:27:29,156 --> 01:27:33,552
So then he went
and got in the cart,

1463
01:27:33,596 --> 01:27:35,946
and they drove him
to the helicopter.

1464
01:27:35,989 --> 01:27:37,904
They all got in there,
and they lifted off,

1465
01:27:37,948 --> 01:27:41,430
and crashed
right into the ski mountain.

1466
01:27:41,473 --> 01:27:44,911
Because it was a ski resort,
Alpine Valley.

1467
01:27:44,955 --> 01:27:47,262
Crashed right into it.
Killed them all.

1468
01:27:49,394 --> 01:27:50,917
I didn't know about it.

1469
01:27:50,961 --> 01:27:53,268
The concert's still going on.

1470
01:27:55,618 --> 01:27:57,272
Somebody knew.

1471
01:27:58,490 --> 01:28:01,580
But we didn't
in the dressing room.

1472
01:28:01,624 --> 01:28:04,191
So anyway, we flew home,

1473
01:28:04,235 --> 01:28:06,629
went to our hotel rooms,

1474
01:28:06,672 --> 01:28:09,806
and I was kind of mad at Stevie
because he left.

1475
01:28:09,849 --> 01:28:13,810
Thinking, well, you know,
I came all the way up here
and then he goes off and...

1476
01:28:15,812 --> 01:28:20,251
The way you can get mad
at your brother or something,
but not big, but just, you know.

1477
01:28:20,295 --> 01:28:24,081
I found out when I woke up
in my hotel room.

1478
01:28:24,124 --> 01:28:28,346
I got a call from the guy
who was managing me then

1479
01:28:28,390 --> 01:28:30,870
saying Stevie
didn't make it back.
And I said, "What do you mean?"

1480
01:28:30,914 --> 01:28:35,135
He said the helicopter--
his helicopter flew

1481
01:28:35,179 --> 01:28:38,443
into a kind of ski slope
mountain thing.

1482
01:28:39,488 --> 01:28:42,534
So at 6:00 in the morning,
I get a phone call.

1483
01:28:42,578 --> 01:28:46,712
"Well, we found Stevie and them.
They crashed in the helicopter,
and they're all dead."

1484
01:28:48,584 --> 01:28:50,325
Is what they tell me.

1485
01:28:51,761 --> 01:28:53,719
So you can imagine the rest.

1486
01:28:53,763 --> 01:28:56,896
-[news jingle]
-There's been a major blow
to the rock music world.

1487
01:28:56,940 --> 01:28:59,856
A deadly helicopter crash
early this morning
in Wisconsin.

1488
01:28:59,899 --> 01:29:01,466
Five people have been killed,

1489
01:29:01,510 --> 01:29:04,121
including rock guitarist
Stevie Ray Vaughan

1490
01:29:04,164 --> 01:29:07,254
and other members of rock star
Eric Clapton's band.

1491
01:29:07,298 --> 01:29:10,170
Clapton, however,
was not aboard the helicopter.

1492
01:29:11,041 --> 01:29:12,956
[Christian] It was
about 2:00 in the morning.

1493
01:29:12,999 --> 01:29:16,568
I got a phone call
from a lady who said
that he had passed away.

1494
01:29:16,612 --> 01:29:18,657
Of course, I didn't believe it.

1495
01:29:18,701 --> 01:29:24,533
And as the news broke that day,

1496
01:29:24,576 --> 01:29:27,623
my phone just rang off the wall.

1497
01:29:30,060 --> 01:29:33,890
Somebody said something
about let's all get together
in Kiest Park,

1498
01:29:33,933 --> 01:29:36,545
and I said, "Let's have
a candlelight vigil."

1499
01:29:36,588 --> 01:29:40,853
And that's what we did.
We came out here,
and we sat at this tree.

1500
01:29:40,897 --> 01:29:45,423
And we came here
just to celebrate his life

1501
01:29:46,163 --> 01:29:48,339
and a place
where we all could mourn.

1502
01:29:49,645 --> 01:29:52,082
And this is
where we ended up being.

1503
01:29:52,125 --> 01:29:54,780
And it's...

1504
01:29:55,955 --> 01:29:58,131
kind of surreal being here,
actually.

1505
01:29:58,175 --> 01:30:01,918
And Stevie also died
on the same day as my father,

1506
01:30:02,745 --> 01:30:04,660
four years later.

1507
01:30:06,444 --> 01:30:08,533
And I had to call my mom
and tell her.

1508
01:30:11,275 --> 01:30:13,712
And she thought I was calling
to tell her that--

1509
01:30:15,105 --> 01:30:17,194
'cause it was the anniversary
of my father's death.

1510
01:30:19,936 --> 01:30:23,374
You know,
she thought I was just calling
her and to say, "I'm sorry.

1511
01:30:23,418 --> 01:30:26,116
You know, I know you're--
it's bad day for you."

1512
01:30:27,726 --> 01:30:31,817
But I had to tell her, you know,
Stevie died, too.

1513
01:30:32,470 --> 01:30:37,214
The worst bit for me was
going with Jimmie

1514
01:30:37,257 --> 01:30:40,347
to identify the crew,
and I couldn't do it.

1515
01:30:40,391 --> 01:30:45,570
I was required to help identify
the guys that we lost.

1516
01:30:45,614 --> 01:30:49,008
And Jimmie had to go
and identify his brother.

1517
01:30:49,052 --> 01:30:53,752
And I, you know,
I can't imagine
what that was like.

1518
01:30:53,796 --> 01:30:56,276
[narrator] Stevie was laid
to rest in the family plot

1519
01:30:56,320 --> 01:30:59,976
in Laurel Land Cemetery
in Oak Cliff
next to his father.

1520
01:31:00,019 --> 01:31:05,024
Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt,
and Stevie Wonder sang
at his funeral.

1521
01:31:05,068 --> 01:31:10,856
♪ I once was lost ♪

1522
01:31:10,900 --> 01:31:15,687
♪ But now I'm found ♪

1523
01:31:15,731 --> 01:31:18,342
I didn't come there
to sing, you know,
it was very spontaneous.

1524
01:31:18,385 --> 01:31:22,433
I mean, at one point,
Bonnie and I were standing
next to Stevie Wonder,

1525
01:31:24,261 --> 01:31:26,350
and he just sort of like...

1526
01:31:27,960 --> 01:31:30,267
like leaned over and was like,
"We're going to sing
Amazing Grace."

1527
01:31:30,310 --> 01:31:32,487
"Okay, here we go." You know,
he just started singing.

1528
01:31:32,530 --> 01:31:34,750
So we sang it with him,
you know.

1529
01:31:36,099 --> 01:31:39,189
♪ Was blind ♪

1530
01:31:39,232 --> 01:31:44,194
♪ But now I see ♪

1531
01:31:46,936 --> 01:31:51,767
[Jimmie] When we had the opening
of the display over there
at the Bob Bullock,

1532
01:31:52,376 --> 01:31:57,120
I finally said, and it occurred
to me days before that,

1533
01:31:57,990 --> 01:32:00,819
that I'm not going to
get over this,

1534
01:32:00,863 --> 01:32:02,821
and it's okay if I don't
get over it.

1535
01:32:02,865 --> 01:32:05,171
You always think as a human,
you're going to grow up

1536
01:32:05,215 --> 01:32:08,697
and accept whatever it is,
right?

1537
01:32:10,873 --> 01:32:13,484
But it ain't going to happen.

1538
01:32:13,528 --> 01:32:16,400
It is completely unfair.
It's unbelievably--

1539
01:32:16,443 --> 01:32:20,273
it's a loss for everybody
that he was cut short.

1540
01:32:20,317 --> 01:32:22,754
And I mean, I lost another
friend in that crash, too,

1541
01:32:22,798 --> 01:32:26,453
Bobby Brooks
was a friend of mine.
My agent and Stevie's agent.

1542
01:32:27,324 --> 01:32:28,891
And, you know...

1543
01:32:30,109 --> 01:32:33,069
you know, it's just a tragic,
tragic loss.

1544
01:32:33,548 --> 01:32:36,202
I was devastated

1545
01:32:37,247 --> 01:32:39,989
when they went off to do
that gig with Clapton,

1546
01:32:40,032 --> 01:32:42,818
and two brothers left,
and one brother returned.

1547
01:32:45,168 --> 01:32:47,126
[narrator] For Jimmie,
the loss of his brother

1548
01:32:47,170 --> 01:32:50,434
almost brought his life
and career to a standstill.

1549
01:32:50,477 --> 01:32:53,437
He oversaw the final production
ofFamily Style,

1550
01:32:53,480 --> 01:32:56,962
watched its release,
and saw one of the songs,
"Tick Tock,"

1551
01:32:57,006 --> 01:32:59,574
climb up the Billboard charts.

1552
01:32:59,617 --> 01:33:02,968
♪ Remember that tick-tock
Tick-tock ♪

1553
01:33:03,012 --> 01:33:06,493
♪ Tick-tock people ♪

1554
01:33:06,537 --> 01:33:09,366
♪ Time's ticking away ♪

1555
01:33:09,409 --> 01:33:11,498
[narrator] Then he crawled back
into his own world

1556
01:33:11,542 --> 01:33:14,066
and didn't come out
for two years.

1557
01:33:14,110 --> 01:33:16,721
He was finally brought
out of his funk
by Eric Clapton.

1558
01:33:18,157 --> 01:33:21,552
I just couldn't
picture myself
going out and playing a gig

1559
01:33:21,596 --> 01:33:23,902
with all the people
wanting to know

1560
01:33:24,990 --> 01:33:26,165
what I thought about it...

1561
01:33:27,645 --> 01:33:28,690
you know?

1562
01:33:29,212 --> 01:33:32,258
So I just waited a couple
of years, three years,

1563
01:33:34,086 --> 01:33:37,916
I don't know how long it was,
but I waited until I couldn't
stand it anymore.

1564
01:33:37,960 --> 01:33:43,748
And then I--
Eric invited me to go play
at Royal Albert Hall.

1565
01:33:45,010 --> 01:33:48,535
And I thought to myself,
"If I don't do this,
I'm a chickenshit."

1566
01:33:48,579 --> 01:33:53,889
I had the chance to get
a big chunk of time
at the Royal Albert Hall.

1567
01:33:53,932 --> 01:33:57,544
And we got 24 nights and I--
and I just,

1568
01:33:57,588 --> 01:34:00,286
I was thinking,
"What-- what am I going to do?"

1569
01:34:00,330 --> 01:34:06,205
I didn't realize that
he hadn't worked before that.
I mean, that wasn't my motive.

1570
01:34:06,249 --> 01:34:08,773
It wouldn't have been--

1571
01:34:08,817 --> 01:34:11,167
I don't think it was my motive
to get him out.

1572
01:34:11,950 --> 01:34:16,172
I hadn't realized, actually,
that for all of that time,

1573
01:34:16,215 --> 01:34:18,783
he wasn't doing anything
at home.

1574
01:34:18,827 --> 01:34:23,092
So it was purely
a musical idea.

1575
01:34:23,135 --> 01:34:25,181
I thought he ought to be there.

1576
01:34:25,224 --> 01:34:28,184
The point was he was
the representative

1577
01:34:28,227 --> 01:34:32,405
of my kind of experience
of the blues.

1578
01:34:32,449 --> 01:34:37,454
You know, Jimmie had to be
a part of it. Had to be.

1579
01:34:37,497 --> 01:34:40,500
[narrator]
A newly energized Jimmie
started recording again,

1580
01:34:40,544 --> 01:34:44,766
then touring with a group
of musicians he called
the Tilt-a-Whirl Band.

1581
01:34:44,809 --> 01:34:46,768
After a while, he started
performing a song

1582
01:34:46,811 --> 01:34:50,119
he dedicated to Stevie called
"Six Strings Down."

1583
01:34:50,597 --> 01:34:54,993
Art Neville and his brothers
wrote it.

1584
01:34:56,168 --> 01:34:58,649
They wrote the first verse,

1585
01:34:58,693 --> 01:35:00,303
and they sent it to me.

1586
01:35:00,346 --> 01:35:02,697
And I was trying to figure out
what in the world...

1587
01:35:05,003 --> 01:35:07,397
what in the world could I tell
my mother

1588
01:35:07,440 --> 01:35:10,052
to ease her mind?

1589
01:35:10,095 --> 01:35:13,490
Right?
What do you tell them?

1590
01:35:14,099 --> 01:35:15,840
There's nothing
you can tell them.

1591
01:35:15,884 --> 01:35:18,538
So when Art Neville
and the Neville Brothers

1592
01:35:18,582 --> 01:35:19,757
sent me this song...

1593
01:35:22,238 --> 01:35:25,502
"Alpine Valley in the middle
of the night,

1594
01:35:25,545 --> 01:35:28,418
six strings down
on the heaven-bound flight,

1595
01:35:28,461 --> 01:35:31,856
he's got a pick, a strap,
and a guitar on his back.

1596
01:35:31,900 --> 01:35:34,772
Ain't gonna cut the angels
no slack.

1597
01:35:34,816 --> 01:35:37,732
Heaven done called another
blues stringer back home."

1598
01:35:38,167 --> 01:35:40,343
And I was like--
when I played that, I was like,

1599
01:35:40,386 --> 01:35:42,388
"There it is!"
They had another verse.

1600
01:35:42,432 --> 01:35:44,695
"See the voodoo child

1601
01:35:44,739 --> 01:35:46,741
holding out his hand?

1602
01:35:46,784 --> 01:35:48,568
I've been waiting on you,
brother.

1603
01:35:48,612 --> 01:35:50,832
Welcome to the band.

1604
01:35:50,875 --> 01:35:53,486
Good blues stringin',
heaven fine singin',

1605
01:35:53,530 --> 01:35:57,490
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
been listening to their playin'.

1606
01:35:57,534 --> 01:36:00,363
Heaven done called another
blues stringer back home."

1607
01:36:00,406 --> 01:36:02,669
So I thought,
"Okay, this is it."

1608
01:36:02,713 --> 01:36:08,066
So I called him and said,
"Look, can I just make
my own verses

1609
01:36:08,110 --> 01:36:11,940
for the end and not use
the bridge, is that okay?"

1610
01:36:11,983 --> 01:36:14,551
And they said, "Sure,
whatever you want to do."

1611
01:36:14,594 --> 01:36:16,466
So, I made up
the rest of the song,

1612
01:36:16,509 --> 01:36:18,860
and I put all those blues
singers in there.

1613
01:36:18,903 --> 01:36:23,212
So it was-- it was sort of
like blues heaven.
You know Hillbilly Heaven?

1614
01:36:23,255 --> 01:36:26,824
We've all heard that.
Maybe some of us have.

1615
01:36:26,868 --> 01:36:29,435
And it's about
all the country singers

1616
01:36:29,479 --> 01:36:31,829
that have gone
to Hillbilly Heaven.

1617
01:36:31,873 --> 01:36:34,179
So-- And so--

1618
01:36:34,223 --> 01:36:36,573
When I heard the song
by the Neville Brothers,

1619
01:36:36,616 --> 01:36:40,142
I thought "Six Strings Down,"
that's, you know--

1620
01:36:40,185 --> 01:36:42,492
and then I put all these
other guys in there with Stevie.

1621
01:36:44,189 --> 01:36:47,105
So then I can play it
for my mom.

1622
01:36:48,803 --> 01:36:50,195
♪ You know, Albert Collins
Is up there ♪

1623
01:36:52,676 --> 01:36:54,721
♪ There's Muddy and Lightning
Too ♪

1624
01:36:56,723 --> 01:36:58,682
♪ Albert King and Freddy ♪

1625
01:37:00,336 --> 01:37:02,599
♪ They're playing the blues ♪

1626
01:37:04,079 --> 01:37:08,213
♪ There's T-Bone Walker
Guitar Slim ♪

1627
01:37:08,257 --> 01:37:12,130
♪ Little Shawn Jackson
And Frankie Lee Sims ♪

1628
01:37:12,174 --> 01:37:15,960
♪ Heaven done called another
Blues stringer back home ♪

1629
01:37:19,355 --> 01:37:21,357
♪ You know, James Cotton's
Up there ♪

1630
01:37:23,228 --> 01:37:24,969
♪ He's with Muddy Waters
Too ♪

1631
01:37:27,058 --> 01:37:29,191
♪ I've been waiting on you
Brother ♪

1632
01:37:31,106 --> 01:37:34,674
♪ Welcome to the band ♪

1633
01:37:34,718 --> 01:37:38,548
♪ There's good blues stringin'
Heaven's fine singin' ♪

1634
01:37:38,591 --> 01:37:41,768
♪ Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Been listening to their
Playin' ♪

1635
01:37:41,812 --> 01:37:43,901
[Jimmie continues playing]

1636
01:37:49,733 --> 01:37:55,347
♪ Lord, they called
Another blues stringer
Back home ♪

1637
01:37:57,436 --> 01:37:59,786
♪ Lord, they called ♪

1638
01:37:59,830 --> 01:38:02,528
♪ Another blues stringer
Back home ♪

1639
01:38:05,096 --> 01:38:07,446
♪ Lord they called ♪

1640
01:38:07,490 --> 01:38:10,014
[crowd]
♪ Another blues stringer
Back home ♪

1641
01:38:12,930 --> 01:38:14,845
[cheering]

1642
01:38:19,502 --> 01:38:21,417
[mellow music]

1643
01:38:21,460 --> 01:38:23,985
[narrator] Back in the 1970s,
there was a guitar dealer

1644
01:38:24,028 --> 01:38:26,074
in Dallas named Tony Dukes.

1645
01:38:26,117 --> 01:38:29,120
He sold vintage guitars
to Billy Gibbons,

1646
01:38:29,164 --> 01:38:33,255
Elliot Easton of The Cars,
Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick,

1647
01:38:33,298 --> 01:38:37,302
and a 1959 Gibson Les Paul
that Don Felder used

1648
01:38:37,346 --> 01:38:41,176
for the guitar solo
on "Hotel California."

1649
01:38:41,219 --> 01:38:45,049
Tony once said, "There are two
kinds of people in this world,

1650
01:38:45,093 --> 01:38:47,660
those who are hip
to the Vaughan Brothers
and those who aren't."

1651
01:38:48,357 --> 01:38:50,794
Well, that pretty much
sums it up.

1652
01:38:51,534 --> 01:38:55,755
I kind of miss Tony,
he was quite the wordsmith,

1653
01:38:55,799 --> 01:39:01,500
and he could put expressions
in such a hard-hitting manner.

1654
01:39:01,544 --> 01:39:04,547
That pretty much sums it up:
two types of people,

1655
01:39:04,590 --> 01:39:07,202
those that know
the Vaughan Brothers
and those that don't.

1656
01:39:07,767 --> 01:39:10,770
Stevie just worshipped
Jimmie.

1657
01:39:10,814 --> 01:39:15,950
I mean--
and I think Jimmie
was probably a little--

1658
01:39:15,993 --> 01:39:18,126
felt a little competitive
of his little brother.

1659
01:39:18,909 --> 01:39:21,259
But you could tell they loved
each other,

1660
01:39:21,303 --> 01:39:23,740
but there was definitely
a rivalry there.

1661
01:39:23,783 --> 01:39:26,177
I think everyone pretty much
knew that.

1662
01:39:26,221 --> 01:39:30,921
So... But obviously he loved
Stevie very much.

1663
01:39:30,965 --> 01:39:36,927
And they kind of
got sober together.
And I think they bonded then.

1664
01:39:37,536 --> 01:39:40,583
The thing that was
so peculiar to me
is that there was, like,

1665
01:39:40,626 --> 01:39:43,368
not even a hint of animosity.

1666
01:39:43,412 --> 01:39:45,022
It was exactly the opposite.

1667
01:39:45,066 --> 01:39:47,546
It was almost hero worship.

1668
01:39:47,590 --> 01:39:51,246
Like, it was clear that Jimmie

1669
01:39:52,203 --> 01:39:56,381
was Stevie's big brother
and Stevie idolized him.

1670
01:39:56,425 --> 01:40:01,125
And, you know, Jimmie was
the guy who started
playing guitar first.

1671
01:40:01,169 --> 01:40:04,433
And as Jimmie would say,
it was cool,

1672
01:40:04,476 --> 01:40:08,654
he says like, "He picked up
my guitars and whatever.

1673
01:40:08,698 --> 01:40:12,267
And then he went off somewhere
and he came back,
and he was like,

1674
01:40:13,485 --> 01:40:17,272
"God!" He was like,
"Man, where did that come?"

1675
01:40:17,315 --> 01:40:21,493
[Jimmy Wallace] Seeing Bugs,
seeing Seab Meador,
seeing Jimmie Vaughan,

1676
01:40:21,537 --> 01:40:24,105
I mean-- and Stevie
as he grew up,

1677
01:40:24,148 --> 01:40:28,500
it was an incredible experience
to see all these guys,

1678
01:40:28,544 --> 01:40:32,069
because that's a pretty high
standard, you know?

1679
01:40:32,113 --> 01:40:36,378
[Mike] A lot of folks kind of
like-- since Stevie's style was
a lot flashier,

1680
01:40:36,421 --> 01:40:40,077
they said, "Oh, Stevie plays
circles around Jimmie."

1681
01:40:40,904 --> 01:40:43,689
Jimmie played like he played,
and it was perfect.

1682
01:40:43,733 --> 01:40:45,561
It was what it was supposed
to be.

1683
01:40:45,604 --> 01:40:47,824
Jimmie made every note count.
Yeah.

1684
01:40:47,867 --> 01:40:50,479
So that's my that's my take
on it.

1685
01:40:51,132 --> 01:40:54,048
[Jackson] I can't imagine
either one of them not having
been a guitarist.

1686
01:40:55,092 --> 01:40:57,573
If it wasn't Stevie, you know,

1687
01:40:57,616 --> 01:41:01,142
glomming on to Jimmie's guitar
and, you know,

1688
01:41:01,185 --> 01:41:03,231
it would have been someone
else's guitar.

1689
01:41:03,274 --> 01:41:06,103
I think with Stevie and I,
we were just desperate.

1690
01:41:07,017 --> 01:41:10,064
And, you know, If you want to
do something real bad,

1691
01:41:11,369 --> 01:41:16,983
you can have talent,
and you can have gumption
and means and everything else.

1692
01:41:17,027 --> 01:41:20,552
But if you really
want to do something,
you got to be desperate.

1693
01:41:21,640 --> 01:41:25,383
I once asked Jimmie, I said,
"Where did it all start?"

1694
01:41:25,427 --> 01:41:29,300
And, uh, it was a family thing.

1695
01:41:31,694 --> 01:41:38,048
But then, like so many
musicians that were leaning

1696
01:41:38,092 --> 01:41:40,790
to improving their style
or their skill,

1697
01:41:40,833 --> 01:41:46,622
it seems that
so many of us were drawing
from the similar influences.

1698
01:41:46,665 --> 01:41:48,667
I mean,
the list of blues players
that...

1699
01:41:51,496 --> 01:41:55,587
laid the way for us to follow
would be lengthy.

1700
01:41:58,068 --> 01:42:04,074
And Jimmie and I
still talk as if it were
the day we were starting,

1701
01:42:04,118 --> 01:42:10,776
because the originators
of the blues allowed us
to become interpreters.

1702
01:42:11,429 --> 01:42:17,522
And I think that Stevie fell
right into that same groove.

1703
01:42:18,306 --> 01:42:21,047
And to this day,
I think it would be fair to say

1704
01:42:21,091 --> 01:42:24,355
that a lot of guitar players...

1705
01:42:26,270 --> 01:42:29,055
are attempting to traverse
that same path,

1706
01:42:29,882 --> 01:42:36,672
and very few make it
with such technical dexterity
as Jimmie and Stevie.

1707
01:42:37,499 --> 01:42:40,545
They have cracked the code.
They know how to do it.

1708
01:42:40,589 --> 01:42:42,721
I think because
he really was one of us.

1709
01:42:43,722 --> 01:42:46,290
He went other places,
he traveled the world,

1710
01:42:47,117 --> 01:42:50,076
but when Stevie
got out of rehab,

1711
01:42:50,120 --> 01:42:53,471
he came back to Dallas,
and he lived with his mother
in Oak Cliff.

1712
01:42:54,080 --> 01:42:58,084
And how many people
who played at Carnegie Hall,
and won Grammys

1713
01:42:58,128 --> 01:43:01,044
and all of the awards
that he's won, world renowned,

1714
01:43:01,087 --> 01:43:02,741
would intentionally
come back

1715
01:43:02,785 --> 01:43:05,831
and live in this little
frame house in Oak Cliff?

1716
01:43:05,875 --> 01:43:09,879
[indistinct chatter]

1717
01:43:09,922 --> 01:43:13,752
[narrator] Just recently,
the city of Dallas approved
funds to erect an artwork

1718
01:43:13,796 --> 01:43:16,451
honoring both Jimmie and Stevie
in Kiest Park,

1719
01:43:16,494 --> 01:43:18,714
only four blocks away
from their childhood home.

1720
01:43:20,019 --> 01:43:24,502
On this very spot right here,
I don't know how

1721
01:43:25,416 --> 01:43:28,854
the people that put
this artwork here knew this,

1722
01:43:30,682 --> 01:43:33,424
but when my mother and father
were dating,

1723
01:43:35,818 --> 01:43:42,520
he pulled his brand-new car--
it was a couple of years old,
'47 Ford Coupe.

1724
01:43:42,564 --> 01:43:49,571
He pulled it right here,
and I got a picture of my dad
standing on the front bumper.

1725
01:43:49,614 --> 01:43:54,184
[narrator] For two boys
who came from nowhere,
they both wound up somewhere,

1726
01:43:54,228 --> 01:43:58,144
and now
they will be immortalized
in their hometown of Oak Cliff

1727
01:43:58,188 --> 01:44:01,191
near their childhood home
forever more.

1728
01:44:02,192 --> 01:44:04,542
[Eric] Look out
for the Vaughan brothers,

1729
01:44:04,586 --> 01:44:08,459
'cause they're seriously
dangerous people.
[laughs]

1730
01:44:08,503 --> 01:44:10,461
They just got that thing, man.

1731
01:44:10,505 --> 01:44:12,376
That Texas thing.

1732
01:44:12,420 --> 01:44:15,118
Just so badass, you know,
just such great players.

1733
01:44:15,161 --> 01:44:16,641
And, you know...

1734
01:44:19,122 --> 01:44:20,515
[chuckles]

1735
01:44:21,342 --> 01:44:23,257
["Life by the Drop"
by Stevie Ray Vaughan]

1736
01:44:32,135 --> 01:44:36,792
♪ Hello there, my old friend ♪

1737
01:44:36,835 --> 01:44:41,927
♪ Not so long ago
It was till the end ♪

1738
01:44:41,971 --> 01:44:46,845
♪ We played outside
In the pouring rain ♪

1739
01:44:46,889 --> 01:44:51,850
♪ On the way up the road
We started over again ♪

1740
01:44:51,894 --> 01:44:56,638
♪ You're livin' our dream
As though you're on top ♪

1741
01:44:56,681 --> 01:45:01,643
♪ My mind is aching
Lord, it won't stop ♪

1742
01:45:01,686 --> 01:45:05,342
♪ That's how it happened
Living life by the drop ♪

1743
01:45:10,695 --> 01:45:15,744
♪ Up and down the road
In our worn out shoes ♪

1744
01:45:15,787 --> 01:45:19,095
♪ Talking 'bout good things
And singing the blues ♪

1745
01:45:20,792 --> 01:45:25,710
♪ You went your way
And I stayed behind ♪

1746
01:45:25,754 --> 01:45:30,672
♪ We both knew it was just
A matter of time ♪

1747
01:45:30,715 --> 01:45:35,329
♪ Livin' our dreams
As though you're on top ♪

1748
01:45:35,372 --> 01:45:40,159
♪ My mind is aching
Lord, it won't stop ♪

1749
01:45:40,203 --> 01:45:43,554
♪ That's how it happens
Living life by the drop ♪

1750
01:45:48,951 --> 01:45:54,173
♪ No wasted time
We're alive today ♪

1751
01:45:54,217 --> 01:45:57,263
♪ Churning up the past
There's no easier way ♪

1752
01:45:59,265 --> 01:46:04,096
♪ Time's been between us
A means to an end ♪

1753
01:46:04,140 --> 01:46:07,186
♪ God, it's good to be here
Walking together, my friend ♪

1754
01:46:08,884 --> 01:46:10,625
♪ Livin' a dream ♪

1755
01:46:13,367 --> 01:46:14,890
♪ My mind starts achin' ♪

1756
01:46:18,110 --> 01:46:21,723
♪ That's how it happened
Livin' life by the drop ♪

1757
01:46:26,684 --> 01:46:30,427
♪ That's how it happened
Living life by the drop ♪

1758
01:46:35,258 --> 01:46:39,828
♪ That's how it happened
Living life by the drop ♪

1759
01:46:43,005 --> 01:46:45,007
[blues music]