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I guess it’s rather fitting to spend July 4th listening to good live American music and in 1998 I did exactly that at this new-ish thang that was happening in town, the Ottawa Bluesfest.
I’m sure you know that the blues is an American invention, or at least a creation that was brewed in the US, and back then the Bluesfest was still too young to afford anyone but real blues acts – no Sting or Bryan Adams on the bill just yet – so it was still very much a festival of good old ‘merican blues music. Okay, Canadians Frank Marino (et al) and Colin James stand out against American Bluesfest headliners like Johnny Winter, Coco Montoya, and Ray Charles but even then I suspect most people would wrongly guess that Mahogany Rush was from the States and I doubt most people outside of Canada – blues fans included – have any idea who Colin James is anyway.
Regardless, there’s no question that this was USA night at Bluesfest with Jimmie Vaughan and Delbert McClinton on the bill. Gosh, it was so long ago now that I can’t remember which one of them was headlining but it had to be Delbert McClinton, right? I mean, sure everybody has heard of Stevie Ray…err…I mean, Jimmie Vaughan (and some people might even be familiar with his sometimes band The Thunderbirds) but everybody knows Delbert McClinton.
What? You don’t know Delbert McClinton? How can that be? Dude has been a mainstay on the American blues scene since before there was one fer cryin’ out loud. Dude played behind people with names like Lightnin’, Sonny Boy, and Howlin’ to name a few. Dude taught – ahem – John Lennon how to play blues harmonica.
Heck, The Blues Brothers recorded one of his songs for their first album (which I suspect brought in the most money he ever made for anything).
Still no? Ah well, at least you’ve heard of him now.
When it comes to Jimmie Vaughan, well, I’m not sure why I’ve never really given a damn about his career. Sure there’s nothing wrong with his music per se, but I (and the rest of the world) was just so, so enthralled with the manic skill and creativity of his younger brother that I expected Jimmie to be Stevie and then some. When I finally got to hear him play I discovered that SRV really had something special going on. It wasn’t hereditary nor was it environmental; it was all just Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Which, as I mentioned, Jimmie Vaughan is not. Of course he isn’t.*
But overall, standing in a field listening to standard US blues on America Day was the right thing to be doing, and I did it.
*I recently heard the most amazing story. When SRV got the call to play a show with Eric Clapton at Alpine Valley he had recently reconciled with his big brother and, knowing that Clapton was Jimmie’s hero, Stevie called him up and asked him to join him for the show, and of course Jimmie Vaughan took him up on it.
After the concert Jimmie and his wife jumped in the helicopter right behind Stevie Ray Vaughan and some members of Clapton’s band. The pilot told them that they were overweight and that someone would have to go so Jimmie’s wife got out. Just before takeoff Jimmie reconsidered, telling his brother that he’d better stick with his wife and take the next helicopter, so he got out too.
The helicopter only got about fifty feet off the ground before plummeting into the mountainside. There were no survivors.
This story contradicts several details that can be found on the internet – aside from the undisputed fact that Mr. and Mrs. Jimmie Vaughan were indeed intended to be on the flight – but it comes via actor Stephen Tobolowsky** (remember “Ned” from Groundhog Day? Bing!) who was working with Jimmie Vaughan on the movie Great Balls of Fire at the time, so it might be truer than the internet.
**Astoundingly enough, when SRV was fourteen years old he added guitar solos to a pair of songs that were being recorded by Stephen Tobolowsky’s high school rock band, which may or may not add credence to Tobolowsky’s secondhand story about the helicopter crash. The sessions marked Stevie’s first time in a recording studio.
Todd Man Out 