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This Guitar Is Available As A
Fabulous Fake
James Lawrence "Jimmie" Vaughan is an American blues guitarist and singer
from Dallas, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Significant influence upon Jimmie Vaughan's style came from Freddie King,
who advised him personally; from Albert King and B. B. King; as well as from
Johnny "Guitar" Watson. Jimmie says that he and his younger brother Stevie
Ray Vaughan studied Johnny "Guitar" Watson more than any other single
guitarist. Since 1997 Fender has produced a Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster.
In the late 1960s, Jimmie Vaughan and Paul Ray were playing at an East
Austin club when future blues legend and Austin, Texas, native W. C. Clark
sat in on bass guitar with the younger Austin locals. Clark was on tour as a
member of the R&B Joe Tex Band at the time. After playing the session with
Vaughan and Ray, Clark changed his mind about Austin blues having died, and
two weeks later he left Joe Tex and moved back to Austin, where he then went
on to develop his reputation as the "Godfather of Austin Blues."
In the 1970s Clark formed several Austin bands with various names, which
included as members Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmie's brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Lou Ann Barton, Billy Gibbons and Angela Strehli.
In a chance meeting in the late 1969 in Ft. Worth, Jimmie's band opened for
The Jimi Hendrix Experience. A very young 18 year old Jimmie Vaughan loaned
Jimi Hendrix his Vox Wah pedal. Hendrix broke it, and gave Vaughan his
touring Wah pedal. Jimmie still has it, and uses it to this day.
Jimmie Vaughan developed his own easily recognized personal style. He formed
the band The Fabulous Thunderbirds with singer and harpist Kim Wilson,
bassist Keith Fergusson, and drummer Mike Buck. (The original Fabulous
Thunderbirds were all protégés of Austin, Texas, blues club owner Clifford
Antone). The band's first four albums, released between 1979 and 1983, are
ranked among the most important 'white blues' recordings. These early albums
did not sell well, so the band was left without a recording contract for a
couple of years (during the time when Jimmie's younger brother achieved
commercial success).
The Fabulous Thunderbirds got a new contract in 1986, and made several
albums with a more commercially popular sound and production style. Jimmie
left the band in 1989, and made his first — and last — "duo album," Family
Style, with his younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Before the album's
release, Stevie Ray died in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, on
August 27, 1990. The album was released a few days after the tragic
accident. The artist listed on the album was "The Vaughan Brothers." The
album was light, blues-influenced rock, with Jimmie singing on several
tracks.
Vaughan released his first solo album Strange Pleasure in 1994. The album
contained a song "Six Strings Down" that was dedicated to the memory of his
brother. He has continued his solo career since then. Vaughan's solo albums
contain mostly blues-rock material that he writes himself. He made a special
guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing
guitar on the tracks "He's Got A Key" and "Coatimundi." In 2001, Vaughan
paid an installment on his (and the Fabulous Thunderbirds') debt to
harmonica swamp blues when he contributed guitar to the Lazy Lester album
Blues Stop Knockin.' |