With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the '80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely electric and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. Vaughan bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other artist had since the late '60s. For the next seven years, Stevie Ray was the leading light in American blues, consistently selling out concerts while his albums regularly went gold. His tragic death in 1990 only emphasized his influence in blues and American rock & roll forever.
Some Words From Stevie Ray Spoken by Stevie Ray during Life Without You, The Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, Pa., 6/30/87,radio broadcast.
Ya know, right now the most important thing in my life is to make sure you understand that, first of all I thank god I'm alive today, and I mean that. You see, I spent too many years of my life thinking that the big party was the whole thing. It took me quiet a while to find out that the real deal is to be able to be enough of a person on your own to know when somebody loves you and cares about you. You see, we are here, as far as I can tell, to help each other; our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our enemies. That is to help each other and not hurt each other. And sometimes to help them we have got to help ourself. So that we will know that they are around in the first place. Are you listening to me? Thank you. I'm glad to hear that.
You see that its a big world out there; with enough pain and misery in it; without me going around and helping it out by hurting myself; and consequently, those that care about me. What I am trying to get across to you; is please take of yourselves and those that you love; because that is what we are hear for, that's all we got, and that is what we can take with us. Are you with me?
Stevie Ray Vaughan
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