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All Music Guide:
As a founding member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie Vaughan was one of the leading Austin, Texas guitarists of the late '70s and '80s, responsible for opening the national market up for gritty roadhouse blues and R&B. Influenced by guitarists like Freddie King, B.B. King, and Albert King, Vaughan developed a tough, lean sound that became one of the most recognizable sounds of '70s and '80s blues and blues-rock. For most of his career, Vaughan co-led the Fabulous Thunderbirds with vocalist Kim Wilson. It wasn't until 1994 that he launched a full-fledged solo career.
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Jimmie Vaughan began playing guitar as a child. Initially, Vaughan was influenced by both blues and rock & roll. While he was in his teens, he played in a number of garage rock bands, none of which attained any success. At the age of 19, he left Dallas and moved to Austin. For his first few years in Austin, Vaughan played in a variety of blues bar bands. In 1972, he formed his own group, the Storm, which supported many touring blues musicians.
In 1974, Vaughan met a vocalist and harmonica player named Kim Wilson. Within a year, the pair had formed the Fabulous Thunderbirds along with bassist Keith Furguson and drummer Mike Buck. For four years, the T-Birds played local Texas clubs, gaining a strong fan base. By the end of the decade, the group had signed a major label contract with Chrysalis Records and seemed bound for national stardom. However, none of their albums became hits and they were dropped by Chrysalis at the end of 1982.
At the same time the T-Birds were left without a recording contract, Jimmie's younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan, came storming upon the national scene with his debut album, Texas Flood. For the next few years, Stevie Ray dominated not only the Texan blues scene, but the entire American scene, while Jimmie and the Thunderbirds were struggling to survive. The T-Birds finally received a new major-label contract in 1986 with Epic/Associated and their first album for the label, Tuff Enuff, was a surprise hit, selling over a million copies and spawning the Top Ten hit title track.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds spent the rest of the '80s trying to replicate the success of Tuff Enuff, often pursuing slicker, more commercially oriented directions. By 1989, Jimmie Vaughan was frustrated by the group's musical direction and he left the band. Before launching a solo career, he recorded a duet album with his brother, Stevie Ray, Family Style. Following the completion of the record, Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a tragic helicopter crash in August of 1990. Family Style appeared just a few months later, in the fall of 1990.
After Stevie Ray's death, Jimmie took a couple of years off, in order to grieve and recoup. After a couple of years, he began playing the occasional concert. In 1994, he returned with his first solo album, Strange Pleasures, which received good reviews and sold respectably. Vaughan supported Strange Pleasures with a national tour. Out There followed in 1998. Released in 2010, Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites found Vaughan covering songs by Jimmy Reed, Little Richard, Roy Milton, Roscoe Gordon and others who inspired him when he was first starting out as a musician. The like-minded Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites followed in 2011.
Wikipedia:
Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan (born 20 March 1951 in Dallas County, Texas) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late, Texas blues guitar legend, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant influence on Vaughan's playing style including Freddie King, Albert King, BB King, and Johnny "Guitar" Watson.
Early career [edit]
Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan was born on 20 March 1951 in Dallas County, Texas, to parents, Jimmie Lee Vaughan and Martha Jean Cook. Raised in Dallas, Texas, Vaughan moved to Austin in the late 1960s and began playing with such musicians as Paul Ray and WC Clark.
In 1969, Vaughan's group opened for The Jimi Hendrix Experience in Fort Worth, Texas. It was at this show that Vaughan lent Jimi Hendrix his Vox Wah-wah pedal which Hendrix ending up breaking. In turn, Hendrix gave Vaughan his own touring Wah-wah pedal.
Jimmie Vaughan developed his own easily recognized personal style. He formed the band The Fabulous Thunderbirds with singer and harpist Kim Wilson, bassist Keith Ferguson, 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 Vaughan'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. Vaughan left the band in 1989, and made his only "duo album," Family Style, with his younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Before the album's release, Stevie Ray died in a helicopter crash along with other band members 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 Vaughan 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.'
Since 1997 Fender has produced a Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex Stratocaster.
Vaughan appeared in the 1998 released film Blues Brothers 2000 as a member of the fictional "Louisiana Gator Boys" blues band led by BB King.
Vaughan is close friends with Dennis Quaid. They worked together on the film Great Balls of Fire.
Vaughan was the third opening act for most of the dates of Bob Dylan's summer 2006 tour, preceded by Elana James and the Continental Two and Junior Brown.
Vaughan loves classic and custom cars, and is an avid car collector. Vaughan has had many of his customs and hot rods displayed in museums, as well as featured in rodding and custom magazines.
Recent activities [edit]
Vaughan continues to perform. He has also been politically active to some degree. He endorsed Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul in 2008 and played before one of Paul's speeches at the University of Texas. Vaughan also opened for Ron Paul's keynote address at the Rally For The Republic in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 2, 2008. Vaughan appeared with Boz Scaggs & The Blue Velvet Band at the 2009 Hardly Strictly Blugrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Vaughan performed at Ron Paul's "We are the Future" rally in Tampa, Florida on August 26, 2012.
Shout! Factory released Jimmie Vaughan's first new album in nine years, "Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites," on July 6, 2010.
Vaughan played with Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, BB King, Hubert Sumlin, and others during the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival.
Vaughan performed on the episode of the TBS cable television show Conan that aired December 22, 2010.
Vaughan performed at the 11th Edition of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival on Friday, June 29, 2012. Vaughan was one of many performers in the week long festival, which, this year, drew record crowds of 187,000.
