Stevie Ray Vaughan - Happy New Year Blues (2016)

LIVE BROADCAST FROM ATLANTA, GEORGIA 31/12/1986 FEATURING LONNIE MACK By late 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan had been through rehab in London and, according to all reports, was feeling like a new man. His dependency problems, which had haunted him right through his career, were he felt, now behind him and he was intent on two things; getting back to playing the blues and helping others overcome their own, similar problems. He achieved the former with ease and passion - this was, after all, what the master guitarist existed to do. The latter did not come so naturally, but SRV made commendable effort in his oft-witnessed stage announcements, advising and guiding his audience members, sharing the wisdom he had garnered in going through the hell he had suffered. The concert featured on this CD is taken from an FM radio broadcast, transmitted live from the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, on New Year s Eve 86, was clearly a dynamic event. Stevie and Double Trouble perform with gusto and flare, whilst the audience are wild with ecstasy. Joining Vaughan on stage after the new year kicks in is none other than guitar legend Lonnie Mack, and the two bluesmen bounce off each other beautifully for a magical rendition of Mack s Oreo Cookie Blues, which ends this extraordinary performance and readies Stevie Ray to enter what, tragically, would become the final, albeit majestic, era of his career - and sadly his life.