JIMMIE VAUGHAN

The Blues Came Calling

“I was a total blues nut. I had all the Chess records. I’d save my lunch money at school and go buy Chuck Berry’s new hit. Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Freddie King – I had all those records. We had great radio stations at the time, too. Like, there was a station in Dallas called WRR, and they would play blues from 10 till midnight. Then there was Wolfman Jack, WLAC out of Nashville… and that wasn’t even the local stations. Popular music was amazing back then.”

Lucky Break

“This friend at school said, ‘If you want a girlfriend, you’re gonna have to play football.’ I really didn’t want to. I remember, the football coach said to me, ‘Okay, run up for a pass and let’s see what you can do.’ I caught the pass, the other players tackled me, all piled onto me and broke my collarbone. So for the next three months, I didn’t have to go to school. So I was glad about that. My father said, ‘I don’t know what we’re gonna do with you, so, here, just take this guitar and stay out of trouble.’ And I’ve been playing ever since.”

Four Play

“My first guitar was an acoustic with four by Freddie King. Everybody did that song. The hillbillies did it, the country guys did it, the black radio stations played it. Learning was just something you had to do.”