Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Quite outstanding! at 2003-10-27
I consider Jimmie Vaughan a living legend. Not only did he teach kid-brother Stevie Ray how to play the guitar but he co-founded a group that helped bring blues-rock back to prominence, the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Hes played with all the legends and even shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix! This CD is really very good. Featuring a couple of songs with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, a couple with Stevie Ray, songs from his own albums and a smoking previously-unreleased-live I Like It Like That, this CD OOZES blues guitar licks and cool Texas vibe that only Jimmie can deliver. His less is more guitar style is VERY cool and his voice is easy to listen to. The songs are mostly upbeat and danceable with one slow blues cut Dengue Woman Blues that drips with Texas cool! I only gave this CD 4 stars out of spite...that Brothers, the guitar conversation with Stevie Ray off of the Family Style Cd wasnt included. I thought it appropriate for sentimental reasons only. I would LOVE to hear more unreleased early Jimmie/Fabulous Thunderbirds material too!
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
one cool texan!!! at 2003-10-08
this cd will be in the cd player for sometime to come. this cd could have easily have been a 2 disc set worth of material. the remastering job here is very nice, and the tracks just smoke with bite and plenty of soul. the live version of she likes it like that is worth the price alone. do yourself a favor and pick this one up!!
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Nice Job of Gathering Stray Tracks at 2004-01-25
Jimmie Vaughan was one of the founding members of the blues/rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds. And while this collection kicks of with a couple of T-Bird tracks (the instrumental blues shuffle Extra Jimmes and their breakout hit Tuff Enuff), the focus is on Vaughans solo career, which has seen the release of only three albums in the past 14 years since leaving the T-Birds.There are a couple of tracks (DFW, Good Texan) from FAMILY STYLE recorded with his younger brother Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1990. Following Stevies death it would be four years before Jimmie released his first solo album, STRANGE PLEASURE. This is perhaps Jimmies strongest album to date. The four tracks from this album (5-8) all written or co-written by Jimmie wouldnt have been out of place on his recordings with the T-Birds. The biggest stylistic change on these tracks is the addition of Bill Williss Hammond B-3, replacing Kim Wilsons harmonica, giving the recordings a more soulful quality. Tracks 12-14 are from Jimmies 1998 follow-up OUT THERE. The closing track, Dirty Girl, is the only song from his most recent album, 2001s DO YOU GET THE BLUES. [Recorded on the Artemis label after Jimmie left Epic.]Rounding out the album is Jimmies contribution to the 1996 tribute album to his brother, Six Strings Down, a couple of soundtrack songs, Dengue Woman Blues (from DUSK TILL DAWN) and Cool Lookin Woman (from TIN CUP), and perhaps the standout track is the previously unreleased live version of I Like It Like That from an appearance on Live On Austin City Limits. [Note: The CD booklet gives a songwriting credit to Chris Kenner. This is a mistake. Kenner DID write a song by that title, but THIS is the song written by The 5 Royales guitarist Lowman Pauling--in fact, Jimmie introduces the song crediting Pauling!]While on the surface, it seems odd to compile a collection like this for an artist with so few solo albums to draw from, its nice to have these songs all in one place. [Total running time - 71:55) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
LUCKY ME at 2002-10-30
Im the luckiest man alive! The first time I listened to this album, it was live in Austin, TX with Lou Ann Barton on hand and even ZZ Top guitarist jumping in on some incredible blues jams at Antones (growing up ground for Stevie and Jimmie)! I hadnt even listened to the recorded album before I left there with my own personalized autographed copy of this album!! All I can say is that if you had the chance to stand three feet away from Jimmie Vaughan while he blistered out the guitar licks and blues youd be sold also! Since thats not generally possible, buy this disc- you couldnt possibly regret it!
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Smokin at 2003-09-14
Jimmie Vaughan literally smokes on this Grammy-nominated set from 2001. The entire CD is great with 4 tracks hitting classic status for me. The opener instrumental Dirty Girl smokes with a classic Chicago blues feel; penned by organist Bill Willis, his Hammond B-3 blazes through the track. On Power of Love Lou Ann Bartons churning vocal blows through Jimmies guitar like a cyclone making this track one that smokes with the best classic tracks. On Let Me In Jimmie creates a throbbing track with a deep groove that mesmerizes. Johnny Wilsons In the Middle of the Night has Lou Ann Barton coming back for another guest vocal that smokes from beginning to end. The other tracks are also great such as Dont Let the Sun Set with its extended instrumental opening before Jimmie lays down some impassioned vocals, Are you just going to stand there and watch me go? Do You Get the Blues? is another strong outing for Jimmie Vaughan, some of the hottest grooves youll hear. Enjoy!
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
The magic returns! at 2003-03-01
Jimmies magic touch is back! You know, the touch. The style of those early Fab T-Bird albums that made you sigh in elation. The touch that turned Stevie Ray (you may remember him, the Double Trouble guy) into a master player. Whatever it is that he lost in a sea of boring, over commercial, T-Bird albums or his sub-par solo albums, he got back with a vengeance on this Grammy-winning blues classic.So what is it that grabs you about this album? A stripped back production (reminiscent of the T-Birds Girls Go Wild), less attention on outside instruments and more on what you buy a JV album for (that powerful guitar), the duets with fellow hot Texan Lou Ann Barton (as much soul as Janis Joplin, she has), and a unique sound just as powerful as brother Stevie. Though while Stevie leaned towards the on-edge, caffeinated, power blues of Buddy Guy and Hendrix, Jimmie goes for a more laid back feel, relying on jazz/R and B arrangements (use of flute on Dont Let the Sun Set and Planet Bongo) and loose bar band blues (the sparse, clublike production), ala Guitar Watson and T-Bone Walker. Too add, Jimmie has a voice that perfectly compliments it, when his guitar isnt doing the talking. He never seems to be taking the music very seriously, just kicking back and taking it easy. (For some of the newbies to the blues, think Norah Jones.) And really, dont we need that?So if you feel music sometimes works too hard, and long for the days of the real T-Birds, then Jimmie Vaughans Do You Get the Blues is a Godsend to you. Hes on to something here, now lets hope he sticks to it.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Classy Blues Album... at 2006-04-05
..From the man they should call slow hand. This is a great blues album from front to back with some guest stars that keep things interesting. This is one of Jimmies best efforts and one of the great new blues albums of the past few years.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
It needs to be settled into. at 2004-07-22
The difference between JV and other guitar heroes is that he does not up the intensity as time goes by; he finds his groove and works it forever. If youre a rave-up fan, itll never come, but if you settle in with the band, youll get more and more out of it as the set unfolds. Still, only four stars; JVs tight style only goes so far.


Jimmy Vaughn Album Editorial:
Jimmie Vaughan is a master of mood but not ostentatiously so; hes too slick for that. You think youre getting a slab of solid electric blues with IDo You Get the Blues?/and as a matter of fact you are--but this particular slab cuts all the way to the bone. It begins innocuously enough with a relaxed instrumental piece set to a shuffle beat until you realize the tracks called Dirty Girl. Then things slow down even more for Out of the Shadows and this one looks like a downer but no Vaughan addresses an upbeat subject here. Likewise Off the Deep End ambles along amiably enough but theres a current of tension underpinning the song until we reach the line And the waters fine. Here the music relaxes mirroring the lyrics. And so on through a cover of Power of Love (with killer vocals from fellow Texan Lou Ann Barton) so that when Without You suits music to sentiment it has even more impact. This subtlety is Vaughans mastery at work. He does what you dont expect contrasting music with subject matter avoiding musical clichés like the plague and doing all of it so offhandedly that you never realize what hes up to. Hence the flute on Dont Let the Sun Set is moving as opposed to cheesy while In the Middle of the Night has a sexy swinging beat and heartbroken lyrics. True Vaughan is a better musician than he is a lyricist but hes good enough at the former that few are likely to complain. Genevieve Williams

Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Real Texas Blues at 2000-06-26
A solid follow-up to Strange Pleasure. This album is proof positive that Jimmie is a master of slow hand blues. He includes more tough Texas shuffles and some great new and innovative stuff (i.e Astral Projection Blues with Dr. John on the Vibes). This album is every bit as fun to listen to as his previous effort. Masterful work once again.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Thunderbirds Not at 2003-07-14
Ive seen the early T-birds live, and Jimmie Vaughn was the driving force behind their intensity. He had stage prowess that outperformed 99% of whats out there, playing behind the back leads that most guitarists couldnt dream of doing were they playing with 4 hands. Having said that, what happened here? This has to be the lamest music this man has ever done. Strange Pleasure is a masterpiece compared to this. Dont get me wrong, I still love this guys music but Out There is just that for me.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Much Better Album Than People Give It Credit For at 2006-05-02
No, this isnt a Fabulous T-Birds album, and no this isnt a Stevie Ray Vaughan album -- this is pure Jimmie Vaughan. If you expect anything else, you will not get it. The context for appreciating Jimmie is different: early Johnny Guitar Watson, Guitar Slim, the organ-rich soul jazz of Jack McDuff and Grant Green. If you like this stuff, you will probably love what Jimmie is doing these days. I like the T-Birds and SRV as much as the next guy, but believe it or not, I like what Jimmie is doing these days a lot more. What Jimmie lacks in pump and flash he makes up for with tone and cool.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Smooth at 2000-07-15
This album is nowhere near the painstaking driven outerspace sound of Stevie Ray, Jimmies brother, but its not supposed to be. This style is different and is execellent if you take it for what it is, a complete stand-up blues album. One that you can have a good time with and listen to front to back without any track skipping like with some albums. Jimmie is an underrated bluesman with a voice as smooth as albert King and a guitar style as cool as B.B. King. Anybody trying to pick up the blues needs to hear this array of electric and acoustic deep blues and old time rythms and melodies. Jimmie Vaughan may not be a guitar god like his brother but I think this album seals him in as being one of the most talented living bluesman alive and as having one of the most easily spotted styles aside of that. Beginning to end you can feel the cool subtle workings of his guitar and his voice and his simple traditional sounding blues lyrics. Of course at times you hear a little bit of good old rock and roll but what is old rock and roll if not a voodoo child of the quick blues? Stevie Ray is smiling down on his Big Bro with no doubt as he unleashes this humble but happy record with total style and grace.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Nice but dull at 2005-02-18
Tasteful, clean, and boring. Im well aware that Jimmie is not his brother, and to be honest, I play Jimmies cds as often as Stevies, but this one is so dull, it just leaves me cold. Try Do You Get the Blues first for tasteful and clean in the good sense.

Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Just for being a great cd at 2001-02-06
its sweet soul vibe not street, just to correct the songlist up there. Anyway I just want to say that there is only one straight blues song here which is six strings down a tribute to his late brother and blues idols. It is really taking the old rock and roll sound and mixing in some soul/r and b vibe around it. Its where old rock and roll would have gone if the sound stayed the same. The whole album is great and rene martinez-Art Neville and Dr. John all make appearances. Its a great mix and sound but once again it is NOT a blues album. Just mostly soft spoken well crafted and mostly happy music.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Hugely Underated CD Dont think about it...just buy it!!! at 2001-10-20
This CD, and the tour that resulted from it, took me by surprise.Jimmie Vaughans band is amazingly tight, his vocals are much better than expected. The songs are from a far better musical era. They are reminiscent of something that came from Memphis in the 60s. He uses no bass player. The organist uses bass pedals to round out the bottom of the sound. Austin guitar legend Denny Freeman plays both rhythm guitar and piano and is equally deft at either instrument. The doo wop singers he brought out on tour (after they blew him away in the studio)were a great compliment to his sound. I loved this CD. A tip for guitar players trying to cop his sound: Many people have written in articles that he has gone to an open tuning, with a capo. I was able to talk with him and found that he tunes conventionally, but uses the capo on the proper fret for the key of the song he is playing. This allows him to pull off the strings from any position to get a note which is in key with the song. It is like playing every song in the key of E. This makes his sliding/pulloff licks work. He was not using an open tuning as many people believe. Anyway, buy the CD and good luck playing his chops. Remember, SRV looked up to him. That is a reccomendation.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
The work of a dedicated individualist. at 2002-05-20
Jimmie Vaughan is great, period. Forget any negative comparisons to brother Stevie, Jimmies first solo album is the polar opposite of Stevies fire and brimstone blues style. Soulfull, laid back, funny and fun, thats it, yeah.. Jimmie eschews any of his Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarisms and finds warm, mellow grooves to make his own. Boom Bapa Boom and Dont Cha Know have that Jimmy Reed medium shuffle he uses so much, but are infused with much more humaness and warmth than on any T-Birds album. Jimmies average-man-on-the-streets kind of voice and his off-kilter lyrical style take the listener on a trip to some exotic but somehow familar place. Is it possible to be happy and have the blues at the same time? Maybe the answer is in Dont Cha Know. Two Wings is a quirky blueprint of the happy/sad perspective Jimmie brings. Somehow a little more than just melancholy... The title track, Strange Pleasure, is an all too short acoustic blues instrumental with a hauntingly abstract quality...a lonely city street on a rainy night...by Kandinsky? Tilt a Whirl is another pleasant instrumental in a lounge jazz kind of vein. Jimmies homage to lost brother Stevie is but one of the heartfelt songs on this release. Three blind boys backup singers (a J. Vaughan quote), Hammond B3 organ, Flamenco guitars and Jimmies telepathic blues guitar add up to....picture a New York Tiki lounge on blues night in 1965...maybe I ramble. Pick this CD up and transport yourself.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Strange indeed. at 2005-12-15
I saw Jimmie Vaughan perform the title track on BBC TVs Later w/Jools Holland... it mustve been way back in 1994 just when this c.d was issued. I was mesmerised as Vaughan approached the stage armed only with what looked like an ancient Gibson L-5 semi-acoustic. He then proceeded to play a quiet solo (Strange Pleasure)in a George Van Epps style that knocked the audience sideways since they were expecting him to kick out the jams with a hellraiser like in his Fab Thunderbirds days. I was captivated by the rhythm and obtuse major 7th# 11 phrasing used in the chords. They give the song a very dark, ethereal, spooky sound with a gypsy inflection..a sort of cross between Django Reinhardt and John Lee Hooker. A very strange combination but it works SO well! The rest of this c.d contains the usual smokin brand of Jimmie Vaughan songs, some with a distinct gospel feel. Jimmies Strat tone is just perfect. A gutbucket mixture of 1950s Guitar Slim/Johnny Guitar Watson. That busted tube amp distorted sound that everyone today is trying to re-create. This c.d. is a wonderful journey. Jimmie is just as versatile as his brother was.
Jimmy Vaughn Album Review:
Kick-ass record from Jimmie Lee Vaughan! at 2004-08-04
This is Jimmie Vaughans first solo record, and it was released four years after brother Stevies tragic death. Here he gives us a great slab of electric blues. Of course, his laid-back jam-back-at-the-house kind of a feel is much different than Stevies impassioned, lets-go-kick-ass style. However, Jimmie and Stevie are similar in the fact that they both make music that goes down nice and easy. Even when Stevie plays a loud, piercing solo it still is so fluid and so perfectly played that it is easy on the ears. I like so call this the Vaughan sound. Just very Texas blues. Jimmie also has that instantly recognizable tone. Everyone knows who it is when they hear it. Okay, now back to the record. Jimmie plays superbly on this cd. He rocks it up with Boom-Bapa-Boom, which was featured in Major League II, Dont Cha Know, and Hey Yeah. He also slows it down a little bit with songs like Sweet Soul Vibe. And then there is the highlight of the disc, Six Strings Down, his tribute to Stevie. With just an accoustic guitar and a couple of backup singers, he gives the best tribute to Stevie that anyone could. The first time I heard it, I cried. Because you could tell from listening to him that he was dealing with the pain very well but he still was hurting inside. This is one of the best blues songs ever put to tape. Overall, this is Jimmies best cd so far. I dont personally think he will ever take over the world with his music, because he doesnt draw attention to himself. But that doesnt stop him. He is as big a legend to me as Stevie is. Not just because he is Stevies brother, but because he is a fantastic guitar player, and one of the most underrated guitar players of all-time. Its a damn shame. And another thing, Jimmie is also a great singer for the music he does. He hardly gets any credit for that, so I am giving him that now. I am glad that Stevie got you to sing on Family Style, for that was the start of something great. Stevie is my all-time favorite, but if anyone says that Jimmie isnt very good, they should be shot. Rock on, JLV!


Jimmy Vaughn Album Editorial:
Jimmie Vaughans first solo album includes a subdued country-gospel-blues eulogy for his late brother Stevie Ray in the form of Six Strings Down written by Art and Cyril Neville. The bulk of the recording though comes in the form of the relentless Texas-blues rave-ups that made Jimmie the solid rock at the base of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Dr. John gives a New Orleans shuffle to two songs he cowrote with Jimmie but more typical is the first single Boom-Bapa-Boom which boasts a hypnotic rhythm perfectly described by its title. Jimmies refusal to play an unnecessary note makes his grooves irresistible. Rickey Wright