Good Life Project - [BONUS] Jimmie Vaughan | Music Month

Episode Date: May 2, 2019

Jimmie Vaughan started playing blues guitar when he was a kid and now, more than 5 decades later, he just never stopped. Growing up in Dallas in the 50 and 60s, Jimmie and his little brother, Stevie Ray used to spend their time listening to music and figuring out how to play it on guitar.By the time Jimmie was about 15, he’d already been getting paid to play in a band 6 nights a week and decided to strike out on his own, eventually landing in Austin, where he’d end up playing with legends like BB King, Eric Clapton and nearly every other blues legend, and eventually earn his own place a legendary blues player.Along the way, his brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan would join him in Austin, carving his own iconic status in the world of blues. Tragically, Stevie lost his life in a helicopter crash, leaving Jimmie in what he calls his dark years, trying to carry on with music and life. He eventually emerged and has been a guiding light in the world of Blues for more than 50 years now. His new album, BABY, PLEASE COME HOME (https://www.jimmievaughan.com/), is a rolling and righteous celebration of everything the blues can be.And, as with all of our very special music episodes this month, at the end, Jimmie plays a bit of guitar for us. This one was really special for me, because Jimmie didn’t have his guitar with him in the studio, but he gave me the great honor of playing the acoustic guitar I’d built with my own hands almost a year-to-the-day earlier. Jimmie is currently touring (https://www.jimmievaughan.com/jimmie-vaughan-tour-dates), so be sure to catch him on the road!-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I am crazy excited to dive into our month of music, this month, music in May. And today we have Jimmy Bond. So Jimmy is somebody who I have been listening to for years and years and years and years and awed by. Jimmy started playing guitar when he was a kid. And now more than five decades later, he kind of just never stopped. Growing up in Dallas in the fifties and sixties, Jimmy and his little brother, Stevie, who we'll talk about more, they used to spend their time listening to

music and figuring out how to play it on guitar. But it was actually a football accident that led him to pick up the guitar in the first place. And we'll talk about that. By the time Jimmy was about 15 years old, he'd already been playing and getting paid to play in a band six nights a week and decided to kind of strike out on his own. Eventually landed in Austin where he ended up playing with legends like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and nearly every other blues legend, and eventually earned his own place as a legendary blues player. And along the way, his brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ended up joining him in Austin. They'd occasionally play together, but Stevie quickly carved out his own iconic status in the world of blues. And very tragically, Stevie also lost his life in a

helicopter crash after a show, leaving Jimmy in what he calls his dark years and trying to figure out how to carry on with music and life. So we dive into Jimmy's incredible journey, the night, the days, and years surrounding Stevie's death, how he emerged and finally figured out even what to tell his mom about that loss and step back into a life of music and blues and grace. And as with all of our very special music episodes this month, at the end, Jimmy plays a little bit of blues for us. So this one was also really special for me because Jimmy didn't actually have his guitar with him in the studio, but he did me the great honor of picking up and playing the acoustic guitar that I had built with my own hands almost a year to the day earlier. So excited to share this conversation and some music with

you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. I was a terrible football player. And this friend of mine told me, he said, you have to play football if you want to get a girlfriend at the junior high. And I was like, oh, no. What am I going to do? I'm thinking, you know, I can't really play football.

You know, I played a little baseball down the street. Some people had a diamond and, you know, and would play football at school and stuff. But didn't really, I didn't know anything about it, or I wasn't a football player, that's for sure. So I said, okay, okay. So I said, what should I go out for? I said, I don't even know, you know. He goes, he looked at me, he goes, you look like a left halfback.

I don't know where I came up with that. So he said, get over here in this line over here. So there's an ending to this story. So they go, okay, Vaughn. So I run out and I mysteriously catch this pass. Like, it was like, I don't know how I did it, but I caught the pass. They all tackled me, piled on me, and I broke my collarbone. So I went home for three months, and that's when my dad said, well, you know, you've been trying to play guitar, and you've been trying to play drums and everything. He said, just play this guitar.

Maybe this will keep you out of trouble. And I've been playing ever since. And so that's how it happened. I always think about that. Maybe it was, you know, the trauma and the, I don't know, it all worked together somehow. Yeah. I always wonder about moments like that. And I wonder about, you know, what if that one moment didn't happen?

I would be in jail or dead like most of my friends. So you ran with a fast crowd. Well, it was just where we lived. It was, I don't know how you would describe it. You wouldn't call it upper middle class for sure. It was just working people that lived in a neighborhood on the edge of town. So you start picking up the guitar. So what is this?

This is middle school, junior high? Yeah, I was like 12, 13. Right. But it sounds like you'd been messing around with various instruments before that. And that was his real name, but it was far out because of his name. But he was a rock and roll musician. And him and his lead guitar player, he played drums. And his lead guitar player was named Jimmy. And their stuff was at their dad's house. So I would go over there with my parents because they played a domino game called 42.

They would play 42 every weekend with all these people. So the guy was in a way in the buddy plan. You know what that is? Like if you get, he got too many speeding tickets, him and his buddies, because they played out at the Jacksboro Highway, which was this big strip between Dallas and Fort Worth that was all honky-tonks, like for a couple of miles, just honky-tonk after honky-tonk. And so they played out there in a rock and roll band, in a country band, and so they got a lot of tickets.

They got in trouble. And the cops said, okay, if you want to either go to jail or you join the Navy. That's what they used to have back then. And so him and his guitar player went away in the Navy and all their stuff was at the guy's house.

And so I would go over there and it would be a room full of guitars and a piano and drums. So that's how I got started on it. Plus, my uncles all played. Yeah. I mean, so you just started doing kind of, it was like a blend of circumstance.

You ended up noodling around with instruments that you just had available to you. They were just laying around, and I'd pick them up and try to play. And then he would come home on leave sometimes, and he would play piano, and he would play guitar, and he would sing all these songs, country songs, rock and roll songs. And, you know, I was just in the right spot. Yeah.

I was always interested in it because I was kind of a weird kid that drew a lot. And I was kind of artistic. But, you know, I wasn't a very good athlete. I didn't want to be an athlete. You know, it wasn't my calling. Yeah. And it sounds like also because your dad, I mean, clearly your dad was pretty into music and into dancing. Your mom also? Yes. She liked, you know, country and western. My dad didn't particularly like country and western, he said. But my mother liked country singers and Hank Thompson and stuff like that. Yeah.

So there was just music everywhere. It was all over. It was unbelievable when I think back about where I grew up. Because it was just, it was like everybody was in a band or something. You know, and it was on the radio. It was on TV all day on Saturday. All the country shows. Local shows. And then Ernest Tubb.

And, you know, all those shows, if you've ever seen any of those old clips. Yeah. It was a great thing. I mean, I was so fortunate to grow up in a place that was surrounded by music like that. And I didn't know the difference between jazz and blues and country. I just thought it was cool music. And then until I got older, I started seeing, you know, well, you can't go over there because these people are over there

and they are, you know what I mean, all that kind of stuff. I didn't even know about that when I started playing. Yeah. So what happens that makes you go from, this is kind of cool, this is fun, it's all around me all the time, and I'm playing around, like quotes playing around with a guitar, in no small part because you're at home and you're like, I got to do something. So how do you go from there to get into a point where you're like,

huh, this could be something more? It happened like the first or third day. No kidding. I had a guitar. The guitar that I had had three strings on it. Yeah. And I knew the song Honky Tonk. I had heard it on the radio.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. So I tried to play that, but I played it backwards. I'll show you if you want. And I played it upside down, but it was a sort of a form of it, you know. And that was the first thing I played. And then I learned that. And then a couple of days later, I thought, hmm, you know, I could really get good at this. I can make records and then split. And how old are you when you're thinking this? 12, 13. I love it.

Thinking big early. That's great. Yeah. You don't know any better, right? Yeah, right. It's just like the whole thing is a fantasy anyway. Right, right. Why not dream, right?

So, yeah. And so that's the way it's been for me. I've been playing guitar ever since. And I love music and all that. And, you know, it's been really good. But you start to play. I mean, it sounds like this becomes kind of like an obsession slash passion for you really fast. Absolutely.

And then you find yourself playing, like literally just a couple of years later, playing out. When did the Chessmen, like when did that whole thing happen? Well, I got in a band. My first band was a band called, we called ourselves, it was three of us. We called ourselves the Diamonds. And then and then somebody said well you can't have that name there's already a band called the diamonds and we said okay so we're just at school kids at school yeah and so somebody said well why don't you call yourselves the swinging pendulums because somebody saw that movie or something and so, yeah, yeah. And so we're like, okay, we're swinging pendulums, whatever that means. How long did that name last? So that lasted a couple of years,

and we got gigs pretty quick. We got a gig at a place called the Hobnob Lounge, and we played at another place called the Saracen Club. And, you know, this was in the summer. So it was six nights a week. You started at eight. You played at midnight during the week. And then on Saturday night, it was nine to one. And my dad would take us in his pickup. And then the other two fathers would, they would switch off. Yeah, because you guys because it

was like darn honey i gotta take the kid down to the club tonight i'm sorry and they would you know you guys had to see jimmy's face when he was just saying that and we and we had a ball i mean we we got to go play every night in this grown-up club you know honky-tonk, and they had a beautiful go-go dancer who was like 20 that stood right next to the stage. We sang through the jukebox, plugged in the back in the PA jack, and there she was on the stage with us. We're just like these little dumb kids trying to play, and there she is. So that was my first experience, and I was like, man, what's not to like about this?

So you're out, you're playing six nights a week, and you're getting paid for this at that age. Yeah, we made $150 a week. Which especially then, that's serious money. Think about that in the 60s. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, for us, like little kids, it was terrific. Nah. And we got in the newspaper.

They took a picture of us and put us in the newspaper. You're famous also. Well, you know, around where we're from. Right, right. Local celebrities. And we got to play at school. And they used to have dances in Texas. I don't know if they still have this, but they had dances on Mondays and Fridays before school.

So, like, you go at 7. Say if school starts at 8, it would start an hour earlier, 30 minutes early. And you go and they spin records and you dance with your girlfriend. I don't know. Do they still have that? You know, it's interesting. I don't think they have that. And they would spin the latest whatever the is, and kids dance, you know.

Yeah. It cost a dime to get in. And hey, if you're making 150 bucks in a week, that's nothing, right? Yeah. It's affordable for anyone. So as you start to, like, you're playing more, your chops are getting better, you're deepening into blues also at the same time yeah you got a little brother you know like four years younger stevie and um you know who who along with you and like both of you start to come up and how did he actually get turned on because to a guitar was it through you or was it just himself it was through me i mean i i was four years older so i got the guitar, I had a record player, and started getting records and trying to play these records and trying to play along with the record player.

You know, putting it on 33 and on the 45 and trying to figure out what the note was. And he was standing there, he had a toy guitar that was like the little cowboy cardboard ones. And he had that, and he would play along. So he started playing, trying to play, when I started trying to play. And so after I got to where I could play a little bit, I'd put the guitar down, and I'd say, now, don't touch my guitar. Because we had the same room. Right. Just normal kids.

And as soon as I would leave, he'd pick the guitar up and play. You'd hear him in there. And I knew that. But it was all just normal stuff. Yeah. So he actually started playing. And he watched me sort of figure out how to play or how to try to play, right? And then, you know, I ran away from home when I was like 15 or 14 and a half or something like that and ran off to be in a band.

I got in this band that was 21, the Chessmen. Yeah. They were 21 years old, and they had apartments and cars and everything, and I was like 14. So I ran off and got in that band, and I ran off pretty soon. What's going through your parents' mind when you're like, okay, I'm 15, I'm out? They totally flipped out, and I got in a fight with my dad and just left. And they didn't come get me because this was back in the day when I think my father ran away, too.

He ran away and joined the Marines and went to World War II. So I think in their mind, I made the break and I fought for it. So they didn't exactly know what to do. But back in those days, that was how you kind of separated. You had a fight and you left. If you don't know any better, I guess that's the way you do it. Yeah. So you find yourself on the road touring with these guys who are like five years older than you.

And you're landing some serious gigs. I mean, you opened for... Well, we finally got to open for Hendrix one time. You can't just gloss past that. So you're like 15 years old, and you're in a band that's opening for Hendrix. Right. What's that like for you? It was incredible.

It's just like the whole thing, I'm telling you. The whole thing has been amazing for me. It's been like a magic carpet ride or something, you know. The whole time, I really can't believe it myself. You know, it's that way you feel like that, you know. So anyway, we went and we were, this band, when I got in this band, the Chessmen, they already had 45s out. So they were already on the local station that was KLIF, which was kind of the big rock and roll station in town, or one of them.

And, you know, they had singles out and stuff like that. So then I got in the band, and they were already popular. So all of a sudden, I was making $300 a week. So I could go out and buy a Telecaster, and I had two Super Beetle lamps. It was amazing. And they would go play every weekend somewhere like Houston or Dallas or Oklahoma or West Texas or somewhere, and I would take off with them like on Thursday, wouldn't go to school, take off and go on the weekend road trip. And I was free, I thought, you know. So how do you land in Austin, Texas from there?

Well, we used to play in Austin a lot with this band for fraternity parties. We'd play for fraternity parties. Oh, no kidding. They would hire us. University of Texas. Yeah. And they made a lot of money playing for these big fraternities and these big balls and things like that.

And so that's where I first went to Austin. And I went down to Austin and I met Jim Franklin and I went to the Vulcan Gas Company, and I went to all these clubs. They had all these clubs down there. I mean, but Austin now is very different than it was then. What was the music scene in Austin then? Well, there was a couple of guys that are still playing around that I knew, that I met. I'm not kidding.

Bill Campbell is a blues guitar player that played around. And I met a lot of guys like that. But what happened was, is I finally, when I got to be about 17 or 18, all the hippies came in and, you know, all that scene in San Francisco. So I bought a ticket one day. This friend of mine moved to California, and he said, you've got to come see this. This is unbelievable. So I bought a ticket.

It was like $15 or $17 round-trip ticket on Braniff. I flew to L.A., went down on Sun Sunset Boulevard and just walked up and down the street all night. And then my flight was like it, you know, late that night and flew home. I didn't tell my parents where I went or anything, you know. And I went to the whiskey and I went to the record store. What was the big record store on Sunset Strip there? I can't think of the name of it. That was pre-Tower. It might have been Tower.

Anyway, I just walked up and down the street. Didn't have a hotel. Didn't have any. I had $15. And I was like, man, I think Johnny Rivers was playing at the whiskey. I didn't go in. I couldn't get in, you know. But I remember walking in the parking lot, looking at the Whiskey

and walking around on Sunset and thinking, yeah, maybe I'll have to come out here, you know, and try this place or something. You know, when you're a kid, you're not really thinking. You're just sort of rolling. Yeah, that's a good way to explain it. And so I came home and, you know, just keep playing. I always just loved playing, and so I just kept playing. No matter what would happen, don't stop playing.

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this is kind of interesting and cool, how come you didn't end up spending a chunk of time out there? Well, my plan was to go back home and get it together. I didn't have a gig, and I didn't know anyone. I only knew one guy that told me he moved to California, but I didn't see him. Right, and you were kind of a known entity and playing around where you were.

I was only playing, yeah, I had a gig in Dallas, at a club or something, you know. But it was just, you know, like if you were from Dallas back in those days, New York City and Los Angeles was like Mars. You know, everything from the show business came from there and you heard about it you read about it but you didn't really couldn't really imagine what it was like so we had to go and just had to go you know there and but not stay couldn't stay yet it was exploratory yeah As you do, right, at that age. So you come back and you're playing around.

And at that point, in your mind, are you just like, this is my life? Like, I'm in. Yeah, I just never thought about anything else. And it was fun. And I wasn't really supposed to be doing that. I was supposed to be doing what my dad did, I guess, or most of my friends at school would get some job, like the same job their dads had, and they'd go to the job,

and then they'd come home, and next thing you know, they get a girlfriend and they have a kid. And I got to do all all those things but i didn't i don't know i got to play through it all i played guitar through the whole thing and um here we are yeah i mean so it's interesting too because as you're developing your chops you know making a name for yourself earning a living taking care of yourself doing it you know one of the name for yourself, earning a living, taking care of yourself, doing it. You know, one of the things that I think musicians struggle with, I think any artist, performing artists, traditional artists, and it sounds like actually you had both of those in you, really struggle with is finding a distinct voice.

Like, because you're surrounded by, like, we all start out like, I'm going to copy this and then I'm going to copy this from this person, this from this, because that's how we learn. Exactly. Right? But at some point, like, if you want to endure, you've got to discover your own thing. How did that unfold for you? Well, I would listen to all these.

There was a radio station called WRR in Dallas, and there was a guy named Jim Lowe, and he would come on at midnight or 1030. I'll say 1030, he would come on. And he was home for, he had a show for a couple of three hours. He would play Jimmy Reed and Lightning Hopkins. So I would listen to that, had a little transistor radio in my bed under the pillow, and you click it on. Just click, and you could hear it, but nobody else could hear it, right? So I'd listen to that, and then I would switch the station over to WLAC Nashville. It would come in real strong, and they would play all blues and everything. And then after that was over, that was the Hoss Man. After that, you'd click it over to the Wolfman Jack and Cunha Coahuila, Mexico, would come on and listen to Wolfman.

And he would play Howlmolf and, you know, all that stuff. So it was just on the radio. But you had to find it, you know. Yeah. But then you got to find, like, start with that and say okay so what's my contribution to this like how am i going to be i mean was that a conscious because you have your you clearly have well i copied i learned how to play from all these listening to all these records and uh also uh that was right when the english guys were coming out, too. So the Beatles came out, and then all that stuff from England came out.

Plus, there was a band in Dallas. First record I ever bought was called The Nightcaps, and it was wine, wine, wine by The Nightcaps. And it was a whole album, and it was straight blues. If you listen to that, I recommend anybody that loves blues to go find the Nightcaps on Van Damme Records. And they had a hit record, 45, called Wine, Wine, Wine, which was an answer song to Wine Spodey Odie and all those wine songs that were out. And they, you know, I had a guy, lead guitar player named David Swartz, and they were great. Still, I still listen to that record because it's fabulous.

And so that was a big influence. That was the first record I ever bought on my own. And then I started getting Lonnie Mack and everything. And then I heard Eric Clapton came out with the Blues Breakers. A guy called me on the phone and said, have you heard this? My uncle came back from England and he brought me a record called The on the phone and said, have you heard this? My uncle came back from England, and he brought me a record called The Blues Breakers.

And there's a guy named Eric Clapton. And I was like, okay. And he goes, I'll play it for you. He played it for me on the phone. Awesome. And so I heard this, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, you know, all this wow guitar. And I was like, man, that's the guitar going on there and so and then you know uh there was all the other stuff bb king and you know hallen wolf and uh lani mac and the

nightcaps and i mean it was just everywhere yeah I mean, as you're growing into this, settling into Austin also, I mean, you what time Antone's opened, but when Antone's opened, it was a guy named Clifford Antone. And he goes, okay, so we're going to have a club here and we're going to have just blues. And at that time, there wasn't such a thing, really. I had never heard of any place that just had blues. You know, most clubs have, you know, whatever their local bands are, or if there's a traveling acts that have records out, they're popular. So if you had a nice club, there would be, you know, soul acts or country bands or whatever, you know, no telling, right? But this guy says, I'm going to have just blues. And he hired all the guys from Chicago and Mississippi and Louisiana.

And, you know, it would be Fats Domino one weekend, and then it would be Cliff Chenier. And then it would be, he had Jimmy Reed came, and he didn't tell Jimmy Reed, and he didn't tell Eddie Taylor that they were both coming. And he got them back together after like 16 years. And I was there, and I saw, you know, I've been listening to Jimmy Reed since I was 12, but I never saw him in person, right? And then all of a sudden, Jimmy Reed's there and Eddie Taylor and he would bring all the guys from Chicago

and Jimmy Rogers would come down there for two weeks, three weeks, he'd just be in Austin in a hotel room and he would play every night. And we got to be

the backup band. The Fabulous Thunderbirds were the house band. Yeah. So, Fabulous Thunderbirds started in the late 70s then? Like 78, 79, right? Yeah.

So you're basically just, you're the house band. You're playing your own gigs, but then you're also playing with all of these incredible people. We would open up and then we would play. We would back up Jimmy Rogers or Eddie Taylor or Jimmy Reed or, you know, you name it. Muddy Waters would come from Chicago. And even if we didn't play with them, we'd be on the show.

So we'd play for like 30 minutes and then they'd come on. I mean, how often did you just, were you in the middle of playing and just looking around for a beat and be like, is this really happening? Well, that's what I'm saying. That's what I told you a while ago. It's still happening to me. Right. So it's been absolutely amazing. Yeah.

And then to know that you are one of these guys and you have been for a long time now. I mean, I know you're modest, but from the outside looking in, by any measure. So you're settled in Austin. You're playing. You've got the T-Birds rolling. At some point, Stevie joins you also.

He comes out. Well, yeah, I think Stevie came to Austin. Now, he was playing around, you know, around his school. And plus, when I ran off, my parents sort of clamped down on him and said, okay, you're not going to do what he did. You know, so they sort of watched him with a terrified eye and kind of clamped down on him and said, okay, you're going to go to school and you're not going to do this. But they couldn't make him stop playing because they liked it. So as soon as he got out of high school, he came straight to Austin.

And he had already been playing all those years, several years. And he just sort of fell right in and got his own night at the Rome Inn, got his own night at the different clubs where we used to play. Like we would play on a Monday, he'd play on a Tuesday after he got going. Yeah. It sounds like he hit the ground running a lot, too. You know, Austin was, that was the reason why I moved to Austin, because it had that feeling.

It was a small college town, and it was, they had like, they had a lot of weird bands. They had the 13th Floor Elevators, for instance. They were real popular and played all around town. And they, you know, they had an electric jug player. I didn't know that existed. I didn't either. So the guy had a pickup in a jug and he'd go or whatever he did, you know, and he was very famous in the psychedelic world. So I figured, again, not knowing any better, I figured, well, if they'll let them do that,

they'll let me play blues. So that was my, you know, a lot of times when you want to do something that's crazy or is out of the norm, if you can convince yourself that it's okay, that's crazy or is out of the norm, if you can convince yourself that it's okay, that's all you need. Yeah. And I kind of feel like also that if what you're doing, you're 100% you're all in and it becomes like a conduit for the deepest part of yourself and it's just letting it

out. People feel that and it almost doesn't matter what the genre is. I agree, yeah. If you can just find your voice and you just have to do it. I was also kind of desperate. I didn't really have anything to fall back on or wasn't trying to do that. And I had jobs. I worked construction.

I worked at a lumber yard. And there's guys walking around with fingers cut off and things like that because it was a woodworking place, you know, where they make trim for door trim, like that stuff there. Yeah. And, you know, to put it through a lathe. And that was my job is I had a big cart of that, and I'd stick it through the lathe and pull it out the other end.

So I worked jobs. I was a garbage man. It was my first job. And so, you know, it was obvious that if I could play guitar, that was a lot better. Yeah. So you're in Austinin steve's in austin you're both building fabulous thunderbirds when did uh the album with tough enough come out that was like uh that was a while much later right yeah that was like late 80s or something like that yeah

late 80s so you're kind of building your groove locally and was that was that the first sort of like big national breakout where people like oh there's something bigger going on or was it well earlier what happened was we were playing at anton's and ray benson from sleep at the wheel would play there too he moved to austin about the same time i did with his band and Sleep at the Wheel and we're similar in the same that he was playing what he wanted to play which was kind of not normal you know most people I think if they have dreams about being a musician then they might try to play pop music or what's popular. And so anyway, that was the way Austin was. It was like a little San Francisco, and they had all kind of stuff.

So you didn't have to, I don't know. I can't explain it. Yeah. So you're building with the T-Birds. Steve is building with his own band. You guys kind of like dance with each other here and there, but you're really kind of like parallel. You're building your own thing, and both successfully.

But for some reason, you decide that you're going to actually create an album together, 89-ish? Yeah, what I was going to say was Ray Benson told a guy named Danny Bruce, who was a hollywood record guy yeah and uh he said you should hear these guys they play the blues and they're really good and they're like little young kids you know trying to play blues but they're actually all right so you should come see him he might this guy managed magic sam and a couple of other guys from Chicago, and he was doing pretty good.

He knew about record business and things like that, booking agents and all that stuff that little kids don't know about. So he came and saw us. He said, I like you guys. He said, let me see if I can get you a record deal. We're like, okay, cool. So he got us a record deal with Tacoma, which was that folk singer guy's label.

I can't think of his name now. But anyway, we got a record on Tacoma Records. We made two or three albums. It started picking up momentum. We went to England. We went to Europe. We went to Germany, we went to Europe, we went to Germany, we went and played San Francisco Blues Festival. We came to New York City and we played one of those little jazz clubs or something, you know. And it just sort of took off. And next

thing you know, we were making records. And after two or three albums, you know, I think Tough Enough was like our fifth or sixth album or maybe even more, I don't know. We had two or three record deals. They'd fire us or we'd go somewhere else, you know, all that. As the business runs. And a lot of people would hire us to open their tours too. So we'd be on these rock tours and we'd be come out for 30 minutes and they'd throw

shit at us, you know. Man, that must be so hard. Well. Because you're doing up there doing what you love and you're really good at it. And it's like. But you know, it's better than being an asbestos worker. I hear you. So it's perspective, you know. It's like a bad day as an opening band is still a pretty good day in the context of life, right? Right. Yeah. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever.

It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised.

The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him! We need him! Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. So what brings you and Stevie back

together late 80s to make it all together? When I was a kid, somebody would come over to the house. My dad said, Jim, go get your guitar and play a song for so-and-so, his guest, whatever it was. Okay, so I'd go get my acoustic guitar and I'd play In the Mood or something. Or doodle-doodle-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. It was a Glenn Miller song. And he liked that, so he would always request that.

And then the person, whoever it was, would say, You're pretty good, kid. He said, Maybe you can make a record someday. You know, so that's kind of planted the seed and stevie would be there too at first with his little guitar and then later on i got another guitar and he would get the the hand-me-down and that's the way it went and so you know then it got to where well maybe you kids are pretty good. Maybe someday you can make a record. So it was kind of, I did pretty good. And Stevie, you know, made that record, his first album, and bust out.

And all of a sudden, he was just like, you know, tearing it up. And so Tony Martell from CBS Records, Sony Records, said, I want you guys to, what do you think about making an album together? The Vaughn Brothers. Like, cool, cool. Stevie was already, you know, hitting it pretty good. And we had done well, but we weren't, you know, like a hit. We didn't have hits in the top ten or anything like that, you know. So we said, cool.

So we got together and we said, okay, let's try to do something different because we sort of both had ourselves established with what we did anyway. We thought we knew what we were doing anyway. So we got together and we said, okay, well, let's try to, we had Nile Rodgers was the producer. And he said, you know, let's get a different drummer and a bass player. And I said, you know, let's play everything with the guitars, but let's try to make a pop record for fun because we had never done that. So whatever pop is is i don't know what that is but it just means uh let's try to make something that they'll play on the radio

that's what we did and so yeah we made that album and then uh three months later it came out well right before it came out, Stevie got killed. He was playing a gig with Eric and Robert Cray and Bonnie Raitt. Right, Robert Cray. A big festival. And Stevie called, and Eric called and said, hey, why don't you come up here? Buddy's coming from Chicago. Why don't you come up here?

It's a big weekend. We'll have a big time. So I went up there. And of course, that's when Stevie crashed in the helicopter leaving the gig at Alpine Valley. So that's the way it happened. You know, it was just, we had a family style in the can. The record company was totally excited about it, uh, because we had both done good apart and they were gonna, they were excited. You want your record company to be excited. You don't want them to be like, oh, damn, what are we going to do with this?

You know, so they were, you know, the executives at Sony and CBS Associated Records were excited about the label. So they were going to, I mean, the record. So, and then Stevie got killed, and everything became dark and gloomy, and like, what in the world is this, you know? So then finally, later on, they put the record out, and they didn't really promote it, and we didn't know what to do, because it was, it felt weird. Well, I mean, also, it's your – I mean, one thing about what do we do with the record, but the other thing is you guys are incredibly close.

It's like you just – You didn't know what to do. You didn't know what to do about anything. Right. It was just – so that's why – one of the reasons why we didn't uh promote the record because i wouldn't do it and i was like i don't know you know what am i going to do go out there and uh promote a record without my brother he's just died and you know it didn't make sense so that was 28 years ago in august and this august it'll

be 28 years since he was killed which is a long time it is but only a blink of the eye but you know both and that's the way time is. Yeah. I mean, it seems like in the years after that also, it seemed like you kind of pulled back. Like you kind of withdrew from the problem. Yeah, it was like for three years or I don't know how long it was because it was kind of like a dark cloud whirlwind. Don't know really what happened. Just kind of one day at a time dealing with everything or trying to, and trying to make sense out of it. I just realized a year or so ago, because, you know, you would go and have therapy, and you would go and do anything you could try to understand how to deal with something like that. It happens to a lot of people.

But how do you carry on, you know? And hold your head up and what do you do? So I just realized not long ago, I'm not going to get over it. And I don't like it, and I'm pissed off. So that's just the way it is. But I have a beautiful life. I have a wonderful family and a wife and beautiful kids. My children are, I have twins who are going to be 15 in June.

And, you know, I have a beautiful life. I have a wonderful wife. And so, but that whole thing, you know, is like a bad fairy tale that won't go away. And I don't, still don't know what to do about it. But when something like that happens, you try to figure out what you're going to do about it. How are you going to be? Do you carry on? Do you stop?

What do you do? I finally realized I'm not going to get over it. I'm pissed off, and there's nothing I can do about it. So it's one day at a time. Yeah. But like I said, I have a beautiful life, and I'm here. I get to come here and be on the radio with you or podcast or whatever it is. I mean, it's interesting also because I guess the next thing you put out was about four years later.

Was that where Six String Down was on that album? That was Strange Pleasure. 94, 95, right? Strange Pleasure. That took me about three or four years to kind of find my way. And is it okay? I didn't want to go out in public. I'd go to the grocery store, and I'd be getting bent down in the aisle to get something and somebody would come up

and they go and they would burst into tears oh I'm so sorry because they had all experienced you know the thing with Stevie but they didn't say anything you know like they didn't say anything. You know, like they would maybe say something at home, but then they would see me and it would come out. So, you know, it was incredible. Yeah. I keep flipping back and forth because that's kind of the way it is. You know what I mean? But I do have a wonderful life now, and I thank God about that.

And I get to play guitar every single day. I have a wonderful band. I've made a lot of records. And all the things that I've got to do, I have a family and dogs and horses. And my kids and my wife ride horses, and all this stuff. My brother never got to do any of that. He was like a hurricane on the guitar,

and he really made his mark, and everybody loves it, as do I. But he didn't get to have a family and all that stuff that you get if you just can hang around. Do you ever get any sense, and maybe this is completely no, but what just is coming to me right now, do you ever get any sense that in any way you're almost sort of like living for him or he's like his living through you to a certain extent with what you do or is it really just like no i he will always be with me like my life is never going to be the chain the same and yet i need to go on and live my life and create it the way i need to create it well uh that's what the three years after he died is I kind of sat in my house trying to, what do I do about this or not do or, you know what I mean? So, and I finally realized, I think Stevie, just like I had always played before, I started playing first and he would want me to play.

What would he want me to do? And the answer would be, he'd want me to be happy and do everything that he would like to do also if he were here. So you, I mean, you move on. And also in that first album, there's a song on that album, which we'll link to in the show notes, because it's really powerful.

It's short. It's really stripped down, six string down. Six strings down. Right. That's your trippy, basically. That's like... Yes. The whole time when I'm making that album, I'm thinking, when I'm getting ready to make

the album, I'm thinking, you know, what am I going to do about Stevie? I don't know what to do about Stevie? I don't know what to do about Stevie. Because if you say anything, people want to tell you how sorry they are. Anyway, it was the perfect song, and it was Art Neville who wrote the song. Oh, no kidding. Art Neville and his brothers wrote the song, and they were going to do it. And it was also about Jimi Hendrix. Yeah, because I remember it was like Voodoo Child is welcoming in the lyrics.

So they sent me the song on a cassette. And I was like, man, this is it. Because the thing about it was, I couldn't figure out what to tell my mother. What do you tell your mother? Because I was the big brother, so I'm supposed to get my little brother to school and get him back home, you know? And I fucked it up.

Even though I didn't have anything to do with it. It just felt that way. So anyway, this song came. It came in the mail. And I was like, this is it. So I took the song and I changed it. I took out the Rainbow Bridge and that and just made it my song. And I said, okay, I'm going to write a couple of verses at the end

and we'll put Stevie in blues heaven with all of our favorite guys. That's where he is. So it was really to tell my mother something. I had to tell my mother something. You know, I had to call her. When Stevie died, I called my mother and said, also, Stevie died on the same day as my father. So it was four years apart.

And she thought I was calling to say, I'm sorry, I know it's a bad day for you. But I had to tell her also about Stevie. And so anyway, this song was really special in a healing way because at least I could put Stevie somewhere. And he was in heaven with these other blues singers. You know, have you ever heard the old song, Hillbilly Heaven? It's about where do all the hillbilly singers go when they die, and they're all up in heaven hanging around together.

And so I heard that one day, and I thought, this is the same thing. This is where Stevie is with the blues singers, and he's with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are sitting there too. And that was from my mom. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it sounds like that was one of the things that kind of let you say, okay, this is out there.

I figured out what I need to say and how to say it. And now it's time for me to step back into doing my thing. Another blues singer. Yeah. Back home. Yeah. And so that really helped me a lot, you know, just that whole notion. Sort of gave me a rudder back, and then I made the rest of the album

and tried to make some happy songs on the album. And Dr. John helped me. Nile Rodgers helped me. And a lot of people helped me make that album. And you're out touring. That's been 25 years ago. And the career keeps rolling on, keeps building, keeps growing. Your kids, are they musical?

Oh, yeah, they play piano. They take piano lessons, and they play classical, and every once in a while they'll come home with a standard or something. But they're quite good, and they both play. One will play, and then the other one gets on there and plays. And they play different songs, but they all know each other's songs, you know. Yeah. So they're really great.

You think either one will end up in music? I think it's possible, yeah, because they play very well. You know, I'm sure it's 50% proud father when I listen to them, but they play very well. They have a thing where they play, and they play each note, and it makes you feel it. So whatever that is, they have it. Yeah, and that thing that you can't quite – I wonder if that thing is – and now I'm really curious on what you think about this, because I've always wondered whether that indescribable thing, do you feel like that's something you either have or you don't, or you feel it's something you can develop over time?

I would think if you want it, maybe you can get it. You know, the gypsies have a thing that they call duende, which is when they're all playing in the caves, like the gypsies are in the caves, you know, and they have a thing called duende, and some kind of entity shows up and gives them the extra mojo, you know. And that was another song on the album called that i may call back porch dwinday which you know i've discovered all this stuff and i was like you know just fooling around with it and um so just the notion of dwinday is like you went if you play an instrument in your own stage sometimes you can really play good. Sometimes you can't.

Most of the time you're trying to get somewhere, you know, trying to get to a calm place where you can really get your inner self to come out or something like that. And that would be my version of explanation of duende. You know, maybe muddy, they would call it. If you heard Muddy Waters and he was doing that thing, you'd go, okay, he's got soul. Right? So I think it must be the same thing when jazz players take off and do something and it all comes out. Yeah.

When you look back, I mean, not that you're done in any way, shape or form, but when you sort of like look back at now decades of doing this work, how much of that do you feel, how much of that was planned? How much of it was intentional? How much of it just was you just showing up, doing what lit you up, and going where it took you? I think it's pretty much all that. I think it feels like it's all that. Maybe I made some good decisions by accident along the way. And then I got into drugs and alcohol along the way and fought with that.

And then finally realized through a lot of help from a lot of people that I couldn't do that or I was going to die. And so it's all a gift now. I mean, I understand that every day is a gift. And, you know, what a wonderful thing that we get to do. Yeah. Feels like a good place for us to come full circle, too. So if I ask you a question, if I offer the term to live a good life, what comes up? I think I've been doing that. I have been fortunate, let's put it that way,

and in every way. And it's a good thing that I probably didn't get what I deserved. You know, so I'm excited and happy, and I enjoy playing more now than ever before. And, you know, if you play for a while, it seems like you, it kind of moves over here a little bit, and it kind of goes over here, kind of goes over here. You can't play the same way on purpose. Even if you try, you know, it moves. So it's all natural is the way it feels.

So it's just one day at a time. You don't have to really worry about all that, and it's not a big plan. If it is a big plan, then somebody else knows the plan, and I'm not sure about it. Thank you. Thank you. So, Jimmy, I know you don't have your guitar in the studio with you right at this moment. We happen to have a couple of acoustics kind of hanging on the wall over here. Any chance I could inspire you to just grab one

and maybe just play a little bit of something for us? Yeah. Are you on? Yeah. guitar solo guitar solo Thanks so much. sponsors who help make this show possible. You can check them out in the links we have included in today's show notes. And while you're at it, if you've ever asked yourself, what should I do with my life? We have created a really cool online assessment that will help you discover the source code for the work that you're here to do. You can find it at sparkotype.com. That's S-P-A-R-K-E-T-Y-P-E.com. Or just click the link in the show notes. And of course, if you haven't already done so, be sure to click on the subscribe button in your listening app so you never miss an episode. And then share, share the love. If there's something that you've heard in this episode that you would love to turn into a conversation, share it with people and have

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We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're gonna die. Don't shoot him, we need him! Y'all need a pilot?

Flight Risk.