SqueezeMyLemon: Six Strings Down Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Six Strings Down Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan

Someone asked a question about the song Six Strings Down. And it reminded me that I own the DVD A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, and that song is on it. I had loaned it out to so many different people, because I wanted them to see what other musicians thought about Stevie Ray Vaughan, that I was worried that I had lost it.

So I had to go to my DVD collection to see if I could find it. I had not viewed it in a few years. I hate to admit that I own so much music that even putting a lot of it on heavy rotation I still do not get around to listening to a lot of it. So much good blues music, so little time I always say.

It is a very cool DVD and the song Six Strings Down is a very cool song. Check out the YouTube video below.

This 1996 concert tribute underscores that common denominator through muscular performances from contemporary blues masters who readily (and appropriately) confirm the Texas guitarist as a true peer--it's no small matter that bona fide influences Buddy Guy and B.B. King cite the honoree on an equal plane with Vaughan's most obvious rock forebear, Jimi Hendrix.

King and Guy are among the stars who interpret Vaughan's own songbook in live performances backed by either his old band, Double Trouble, or the larger Tilt-a-Whirl Band. Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Dr. John, and the late guitarslinger's big brother, Jimmie Vaughan (himself a major figure since his days with the Fabulous Thunderbirds) all pay gritty musical homage noteworthy for powerhouse guitar work.