In 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan completed the two recording sessions that would make him a star. The first sessions yielded Texas Flood, his debut album with Double Trouble. The second had him playing lead for David Bowie’s album Let’s Dance. In this adapted extract from Texas Flood: The Inside Story Of Stevie Ray Vaughan by Alan Paul and Andy Aledort, key figures and collaborators reveal how SRV worked his magic on two fronts – lighting up Bowie’s hit record and creating the album that reignited blues music in the early 80s.
On November 22, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble arrived in Los Angeles to work at Downtown Studio. The facility was owned by famed singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who gave Stevie and the boys three days of studio time – free of charge – during a break from recording his own album Lawyers In Love.
By chance, Richard Mullen, a Texas musician and friend of the band, was also in LA, recording with singer Christopher Cross. Mullen took charge of the Downtown sessions and would finish the job as producer of. Mullen tuned the drums and dialed up the sounds he wanted to hear on Vaughan and Shannon’s amps. He also employed some sound baffles between the players to decrease leakage and allow cleaner tracks of
