“I still can’t believe that Stevie got killed. I’m still in denial about it”: Jimmie Vaughan reveals he nearly quit guitar after his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death
Jimmie Vaughan has opened up on the death of his younger brother, blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, sharing how the tragedy made him want to hang up his guitar for good.
Jimmie sparked his music career in the 1970s when he founded the Fabulous Thunderbirds. He left the band in 1990 with plans to release music and tour as the Vaughan Brothers. Stevie sadly died that same year in a helicopter crash, leading Jimmie to take a pause from music.
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In a new interview with Guitar Player, Jimmie has candidly reflected on the loss of his brother. “I still can’t believe that it’s true that Stevie got killed. I’m still in denial about it. It was terrible. I had to deal with losing my little brother,” he says.
“The thing is that he died on the same day that our father died, four years earlier. Imagine how that felt when I was calling up my mother to tell her. I guess she thought I was calling up to tell her I was thinking about her on that anniversary. And I have to tell her that Stevie got killed?
“It’s a life-changing experience. I didn’t know what to do or say about it when it happened. I almost didn’t even want to play anymore. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. There’s an expectation as well, when people speak to you about it, that you’ll have something profound to say. I sometimes think that maybe God picked that day so that we knew they’d be together. What else can you think?” He adds.
Before Stevie’s death, the brothers recorded the album Family Style together. Of the experience, Jimmie later reflects: “I couldn’t pick a particular favourite from this album — it was all real serious and heavy to me as we were working on it. And then Stevie got killed. We were together for three months making that record and had a real great time doing it.
“Tony Martell at Epic came up with the idea of us making an album. Ever since we were little kids our dad would say, ‘Okay, boys, go get your guitars and play something in the living room for our guests,’ and someone would always say, ‘That’s really great boys, maybe someday you can make a record together.’ It was a long time coming.”
The post “I still can’t believe that Stevie got killed. I’m still in denial about it”: Jimmie Vaughan reveals he nearly quit guitar after his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
