THE GENIUS OF SRV

He’d have been remarkable in any era but Stevie Ray Vaughan arrived just at the right time in the long history of the electric blues. The late 1970s and early 1980s were not halcyon days for the art form: Eric Clapton’s star had waned with so-so albums such as Another Ticket and Money And Cigarettes; ZZ Top were delving into the sequencerdriven MTV-rock that made them millions but ripped up their roots; the rejuvenation of Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and other elder legends was still some way off; and the underrated Robert Cray was making waves but his gentler, more soulful style didn’t deliver the power-blues thrills many guitar players sought. Indeed, in a flurry of hairspray and spandex, hair metal was the 1980s habitat stalked by many guitarists with cranked amps seeking to summon the spirit of Jimi.

But Stevie Ray was different – refreshing, in that he