Central Texans from near and far visited the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue at Austin’s Lady Bird Lake all day Friday to pay homage to one of the Capital City’s most revered adopted sons.
Stevie Ray Vaughan, a native of South Oak Cliff in south Dallas was killed in a helicopter crash at the age of 35 on August 27, 1990.
Fans say 20-years later that his music will never die.
“It was an embodiment of an old style of blues and a unique style all of its own,” said Robert Fickert, one of dozens who came to the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue Friday to honor the Grammy award winning musician.
Stevie Ray Vaughan moved to Austin in the mid-seventies because, as some of his music friends say, the city was a Mecca for musicians. Back then, SRV was simply known to his buddies as “Stevie”, most of whom considered him a great guitarist until they heard him sing for the first time.
“I walked in there, it was really late and Stevie was singing and I had never heard him sing before and he was doing a Freddie King song, I think it was "Going Down", and I was like 'Wow! Fine!'", exclaimed Van Wilks, an award winning Austin musician who hung out with Stevie Ray when he first moved to Austin and up until his death.
For Vaughan’s fellow band members in Double Trouble, 20-years seems like yesterday.
“He was humble but strong and he had a beautiful spirit,” said Tommy Shannon, a member of Double Trouble.
“I'm kind of astounded by all of it just because we just saw ourselves as guys who liked playing music together and we just had fun,” said Chris Layton, another member of Double Trouble.
It was no secret that Stevie Ray wrestled with demons when it came to alcohol and drugs. However his friends say he was clean and sober at the time of his death, a lesson they hope other young artists will take to heart.
“Stevie proved that you can be even more successful, play even better than you were when you were high and be a better person, too. So that's a legacy I hope younger musicians will look up, grab a hold of and run with it,” said Van Wilks.
