Random music post: SRV, “Texas Flood”

For the electric blues quartet Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, the gig at Toronto’s El Mocambo Club on July 11, 1983 was just another stop on the North American tour to promote their debut album, Texas Flood.  But for die-hard SRV fans, it was–and all these years later, it remains–a night to remember.

One of the best guitarists of all time hit the stage with unparalleled fury and passion, twisting and bending notes even Jimi Hendrix would have marveled at, the sweat pouring off him as if it were the physical embodiment of the music itself.  Stevie played like a man possessed, his grip on the audience just as tight as the grip on the neck of his Stratocaster.

Just seven years later, Vaughan would lose his life in a helicopter crash at the age of 35.  Thankfully, his music will keep his memory alive forever.  When I hear the performance of “Texas Flood” live from the El Mocambo, I’m shaken by the gravity of the loss of such an otherworldly talent.