“That take was live from beginning to end, 7 minutes of pure guitar energy without a single miscue”: Stevie Ray Vaughan’s producer and bassist recall being in the room when SRV tackled his game-changing cover of Voodoo Chile
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s second album Couldn’t Stand the Weather was put together in a whirlwind rush as the band – in the ascendence following a huge run of tour dates in support of Texas Flood – needed new material, and quickly.
A common criticism leveled at the record is that SRV did not push himself particularly hard in the writing department, which is perhaps not surprising given the need for speed – and the substance abuse that was rife in the group at the time.
However, of the four covers included in the final track listing, the one that no one questions is SRV’s take on fellow Stratocaster icon Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile.
The new issue of Guitar World shares an excerpt of GW scribes Alan Paul and Andy Aledort’s book Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan, featuring interviews with SRV’s Double Trouble bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton, alongside the album’s late co-producer/engineer Richard Mullen.
In the piece, Shannon and Mullen highlight the importance of SRV’s Voodoo Chile in unlocking the rest of the album – both as a spiritual link to Texas Flood (which contained his stunning reworking of Little Wing) and another tip of the black hat both to the bluesman’s musical roots.
“He needed encouragement to pursue what was in his heart,” explains Shannon, recalling the 1983 session at New York’s Power Station studio. “Voodoo Chile was our point of departure into the future. It felt like breaking out of jail.”
Fortunately, Shannon succeeded in convincing SRV to go for it and, as is so often the case when players return ‘to the source’, the track proved a pivot point for the whole record – representing the moment at which Vaughan suddenly felt reinvigorated and freed from the obligations of topping Texas Flood.
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“Stevie played the song with so much soul and spirit,” says Mullen. “That take was live from beginning to end, seven minutes of pure guitar energy without a single miscue.”
Can’t Stand the Weather has subsequently gone down as a classic, with the likes of the title track (inspired by the departure of road manager Cutter Brandenberg), Tin Pan Alley and Vaughan’s instrumental workout Scuttle Buttin’ all still considered among his essential works.
Hendrix has obviously inspired countless players, but few have stood alongside SRV in their ability to authentically channel Hendrix’s dexterity, while maintaining so much of their own personality.
Indeed, even Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready said it took seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan for him to understand Hendrix.
Voodoo Chile, meanwhile, has recently received another re-working, this time as the star-studded hero track for Fender’s 70th anniversary Stratocaster celebrations.
The track nods to the SRV legacy with an appearance from Jimmie Vaughan, alongside the likes of Tom Morello and Nile Rodgers.
For more insights from the sessions, read the full interview with Layton and Shannon in the May 2024 issue of Guitar World, available from Magazines Direct.
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