Love this interview with blues legend Jimmie Vaughan, has so many great stories – music or otherwise.
How one of his guitars is now for sale in LA for $1M, why he chose to play Fender guitars and how he learned to stop imitating his heroes instead choosing to find his own voice.
Such great advice…think of yourself sitting with all of your greats and it comes to your turn, what would you play?
You can’t imitate them…you’re screwed unless you have something original that sounds like you to play…such great advice.
Filed under Blues Legends, jimmie vaughan by on May 9th, 2016. Comment. 
Who would have thought of seeing the Foo Fighters with the Austin blues greats Jimmie Vaughan and Gary Clarke Jr…but it works when they lay into a killer version of the Fabulous Thunderbirds “Tuff Enough” –
Great to see Jimmie playing in the upper switch position on the strat (the FAT sound) and with a pick – nice change and back to the good ol days of the T-Birds!
Filed under Blues Legends, jimmie vaughan by on Feb 6th, 2015. Comment.
Jimmie Vaughan kicking some ass with DF/W (stands for Dallas Fort-Worth representing an area in Texas) backed by an amazing band really makes for some magic…
Always thought Jimmie’s strengths were:
- Making simple so packed with feeling
- Writing catchy melodies
- Amazing rhythm and back-up man
- Top notch band leader – knows how to put together an arrangement and a show
- Steeped in the history of the blues especially Jimmy Reed, King’s (Albert, Freddie and BB)
What’s your take?
Filed under blues guitar, jimmie vaughan by on Dec 27th, 2014. Comment.
How time flies…the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan would have been 60 October 3, 2014…changed the world of music forever – as all the great ones do, his music lives on in every guitarist who has come since.
Here’s a great Jazzfest performance near the end of Stevie’s performances…with his brother Jimmie, great show
Great to see that tomorrow (Oct 4) will be the airing of the 40th anniversary of Austin City Limits with a huge tribute to SRV and an appearance by all original members of Double Trouble (including Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton and Reese Wynans)
Awesome!
Filed under jimmie vaughan, stevie ray vaughan by on Oct 3rd, 2014. Comment.
It rained all weekend, but despite the torrential downpour, I jumped in my car Saturday afternoon and headed out on my 1-hour journey to the hills of Calabogie to see Jimmie Vaughan along with his great Tilt-A-Whirl Band headline the Calabogie Blues Festival
Followers of this blog will recognize that I have talked a lot about Jimmie Vaughan being his own man, keeping pure blues guitar alive and sticking true to how he hears the music despite the fact that almost everyone goes to see Jimmie the first time expecting to hear his late brother Stevie.
Do yourself a favor, search out some Fabulous T-Birds stuff from the 80’s and tell me that wasn’t great music. Then listen to the guitar and notice the incredible rhythm and pinpoint lead guitar – THAT my friends, is Jimmie Vaughan.
I had limited room left on my memory card so I could only record a couple of snippets from what was a good show.
Here is the first video as Jimimie opened up the show
And here is a short clip showing why Jimmie is one of the most solid rhythm blues guitarists of this generation (it’s no wonder he provided such a huge back beat to the Fabulous T-Birds in Austin where he made his name )
Be sure to catch Jimmie Vaughan wherever he appears next – it will always be a fun show and education into Texas Blues
Filed under jimmie vaughan by on Aug 18th, 2014. Comment.
Wish I could have seen these guys all together back in the day.
Watch as Carlos Santana, Jimmie Vaughan, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Cesar Rojas from Los Lobos…dream team? Ever notice how Stevie always played as if his life depended on that specific performance?
Filed under Blues Legends, jimmie vaughan, stevie ray vaughan by on Jul 23rd, 2014. Comment.
Saw Jimmie and his band on a plane from Toronto heading to London last Sunday – couldn’t believed when I was boarding the plane, looked up and there was Jimmy Vaughan and his terrific band.
Unfortunately, I had to return to Canada prior to this gig in London at “Under The Bridge”. You can still catch him in Europe at the Blues Express in Differdange, Luxembourg and BOSPOP Festival in Weert, Netherlands (Who are no doubt lamenting their World Cup Semi-Final Loss) or shows in Germany and France as well – you can keep up to date with his rigorous schedule on his Facebook page here. Leave a comment if you have been to a Jimmie Vaughan show lately. I’ll get another chance to see him when he plays back up in the Ottawa area in August.
Here is a quick video of one song from his recent European Tour – Jimmy Vaughan and the Tilt-A-Whirl-Band — Oh, and just for good measure, this is followed by a video of a younger Jimmie with Kim Wilson in the Fabulous ThunderBird days – on non other than Johnny Carson!
And on the Johnny Carson Show…
Filed under jimmie vaughan, texas blues by on Jul 11th, 2014. Comment.
The first of its kind brings back bitter-sweet memories for us fans and no doubt for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s loved ones.
Just listen to Jimmy’s words…”I want to thanks Bob for coming in and talking to me about this (the idea of the exhibit), you know I have all of Stevie’s stuff and I don’t really know what to do with it, you know, I go and look at it sometimes and then there’s also the part about he’s my little brother and I, you know, I’m supposed to protect my little brother so I never really know what to do with a lot of his stuff emotionally – you know…”
Couldn’t have put it better Jimmy, you have been a good, honest steward of your little brother’s things and legacy…good job JLV!
Filed under jimmie vaughan, stevie ray vaughan by on Jul 7th, 2014. Comment.
Came across this video sharing the details of Jimmie Vaughan’s guitar setup…if you are a fan of Jimmie you know that he is a minimalist (that’s what they called Steve Jobs by the way…so nothing wrong with that!)
I’m a huge fan of Jimmie Vaughan’s simple, clear, biting tone – but find at times he could use some more sustain and little more low end.
Indeed, in this setup we see why he gets such a “thin” tone…it includes often setting the Fender Strat pickup to one of the lower positions, setting the tone to high treble and playing the guitar “cold” (not at full volume) as well as his amplifiers are set with presence and treble extremely high (almost full) with Bass way down near 3-4.
Interesting talk with his guitar tech, always learn from these setup reviews:
Filed under jimmie vaughan by on May 11th, 2012. Comment.
Wow man, I was so impressed by this Jimmie Vaughan interview, mainly because he goes through the thought process of how he (and how other great blues guitar players like BB, Freddie King, Eric Clapton and Gatemouth Brown) developed their own style.
It’s one thing to learn the guitar, another to be able to play like your heroes and still another to have the confidence and desire to forge your own sound.
Not only do you become a musician and guitar player, but you become an innovator and artist using this approach.
Isn’t it better to leave this earth having shared and created your own sound instead of just imitating others?
How do you develop your own style… Jimmy’s way of describing it is “play what you hear”…now that makes total sense!
I remember hearing BB King talk about how he developed his style of “fills” by trying to come up with the horn (sax) fills he would hear in songs…that became the BB King style of blues playing.
So if you want to or already play guitar, think about what do you want to hear and try to incorporate that into your playing.
Here’s the video:
Filed under jimmie vaughan, texas blues by on Apr 5th, 2012. Comment.
