Stevie Ray Vaughan In The Beginning

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 Hubert Sumlin and rock 'n' roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre.
There was an unknown, hardworking 24-year-old gunslinger named Little Stevie Vaughan, learning his craft the hard way in the trenches of the Austin Texas clubs, trying his darndest to get out of the shadow of his famous older brother Jimmie.
It wouldn't be long.
Anyone lucky enough to have been in the audience at this early live show, on April Fools Day in 1980, could have told you that. Young Stevie Vaughan (he had yet to become Stevie Ray) blasted the hometown crowd with a style that was already very well-formed. With Chris Layton on drums and bassist Jackie Newhouse (Tommy Shannon would join up a year later), his basic sound was already in place, albeit still in need of some polishing.
Taken from the surviving two-track master, Vaughan's guitar is raw and in your face every note of the way. His takes on Freddie King's "In The Open" and the lengthy "Tin Pan Alley" are the real highlights here.
As we did with our vaunted box set reissues, "Texas Hurricane", again Analogue Productions is bringing you the finest-sounding Stevie Ray Vaughan collections ever preserved on 200-gram vinyl. Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound cut the lacquers for the LPs using the ultimate VMS 80 cutting lathe. Gary Salstrom handled the plating and the vinyl was pressed of course at Quality Record Pressings.
There's not a link in this chain that wasn't absolute first-rate. The absolute best that money can buy. We're passionate about the blues Aand Stevie Ray and the passion shows up here in spades.