Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan

In this definitive oral history, Paul (One Way Out: The Inside Story of the Allman Brothers Band) and musician and teacher Aledort trace the life and music of guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954–1990). Drawing on hundreds of interviews with Vaughan’s friends, family, and fellow musicians, the authors detail the guitarist’s rise from a working-class background in Dallas; his formative experiences in countless bands in Dallas and Austin; his national breakthrough success in 1983 with his first LP Texas Flood and subsequent years of touring, which led to an increase in his drug and alcohol abuse; and his final years of sobriety before his death in a helicopter crash in 1990. The authors excellently capture how Vaughan, in the words of bassist Tommy Shannon, “always played as if there was no tomorrow.” The interviews with fellow musicians and engineers provide insightful takes on Vaughan’s work, especially Texas Flood, which was recorded live after Jackson Browne loaned the band his studio and before Vaughan even had a record contract. (“There was no finagling on anything,” says engineer and producer Richard Mullen. “It was about as live and true to a performance as it could possibly be.”) Fans will be thrilled with this intelligent, informative, and enlightening biography of the guitar great. (Aug.)

Correction: Steve Ray Vaughan's last name was misspelled in a previous version of this review.