Results for "Stevie Ray Vaughan"

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Born: October 3, 1954

Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 - August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist. His broad appeal made him one of the world's most influential electric blues guitarists. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan.

Vaughan was born and raised in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. Neither of his parents had any strong musical talent but were avid music fans. They would take Vaughan and his older brother Jimmie to concerts to see Fats Domino, Jimmy Reed, and Bob Wills. Even though Vaughan initially wanted to play the drums as his primary instrument, he was given a guitar when he was eight years old. Vaughan's brother, Jimmie Vaughan, gave him his first guitar lessons. Vaughan later quoted in Guitar Player Magazine as saying, "My brother Jimmie actually was one of the biggest influences on my playing. He really was the reason why I started to play, watching him and seeing what could be done."

Thirty Essential Transformative Guitarists

by Alan Bryson
September 9, 2026

"Best guitarist" lists are inherently subjective--often nonsensical. They rank the unrankable, folding popularity, technique, cultural impact, sales, and personal taste into a single hierarchy. This list takes a different approach, acknowledging thirty guitarists who transformed the instrument itself: they created new techniques, pioneered fresh concepts, expanded its sonic vocabulary, and changed how those who followed them played. ...

Jazz Aspen Snowmass June Experience 2026

by Geoff Anderson
July 10, 2026

Jazz Aspen Snowmass June Experience 2026 Aspen, Colorado June 26-27, 2026 When nourishing the soul, it is important to consume a balanced diet. Failure to draw from a wide array of musical genres can lead to ennui, shallow breathing and excessive television watching. A properly tuned soul can be an ephemeral thing, ...

Pete Mills: This Is Now

by Mark Corroto
April 28, 2026

Let us imagine asking a sociologist whether something like musical FOMO, fear of missing out, exists. Pete Mills makes a convincing case that it does with This Is Now. Even though we have the recorded evidence, there is a lingering sense that something special happened in the room, something listeners can hear but not fully share. ...

Mehmet Ali Sanlikol: The Electric Oud Man Speaks And You Listen…

by Kyle Simpler
April 17, 2026

Jazz has long operated with something like an open-door policy, absorbing influences from classical, folk, rock, and beyond. Turkish-American composer Mehmet Ali Sanlikol extends that tradition in a particularly personal way on The Electric Oud Man Speaks...And You Listen, a five-track project that brings Turkish makam, jazz improvisation, and rock energy into a shared musical language.

Take Five with Pianist & Guitarist Justin Fitzgerald

by AAJ Staff
October 10, 2025

Meet Justin Fitzgerald I think of myself primarily as a composer, and jazz is my favorite form of music to write. I've always been surrounded by music--my mother was an opera singer before I was born, my wife is a singer, and her father was a skilled guitarist.I used to perform in restaurants and ...

Blues From the Top Festival 2025

by Geoff Anderson
July 12, 2025

Blues From the Top Festival Winter Park, COJune 27-29, 2025 The Town of Winter Park and Grand County have been hosting this summer blues festival for 23 years now. During that time, the festival has grown from a small start-up operation in a field to a three-day festival with national ...

Lightnin' Hopkins: Glory Be

by Ian Patterson
March 17, 2024

Texas blues singer/guitarist Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins could lay claim to the authentic blues, having worked in the cotton fields for years. He turned electric in the 1950s, and toggled between acoustic and electric guitar with the blues boom and folk revival of the 1960s, influencing everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan. But it is ...

Jimmy Hall: Ready Now

by Doug Collette
December 3, 2022

Vocalist/musician/songwriter Jimmy Hall has had quite the career for himself. From his days as frontman for Dixie rockers Wet Willie-- remember “Keep On Smilin'"?--to more recently singing with guitar hero Jeff Beck, he's navigated spots on the Allman Family Revival tour as well as commanded the stage on multiple occasions with the latter-day Allman Brothers Band ...

Henry Kaiser & Rome Yamilov and Bernard Allison: Blues Changes

by Doug Collette
May 20, 2022

Is blues music the most mutable of all musical forms? It's a question worth asking when taking into account the expanse of styles within the genre that stretch all the way from the skeletal acoustic likes of Son House and Reverend Gary Davis to the earthshaking electric onslaughts of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Henry ...