Live at Carnegie Hall by Stevie Ray Vaughan (CD, Jul-1997, Epic USA)

SRV's carnegie hall appearance a benifit of the T.J Martell Foundation's work for leukemia and cancer research marked his arrivial to big time rock and roll the day after his 30th birthday in 1984.. It was the pinnacle of he and double trouble had reached without ever compromising or diluting their raw blues essence. ...unlike selling out to david bowie's "big plans for stevie" as the guitar player on his "Lets Dance" tour bus a year before. Instead, his friends meant more to him than money and fame..so..he went for broke with double trouble...and now it finally paid off... also with a grammy from the "Texas Flood" performance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, and only un-signed band ever to play Montreaux.

This is another recording of always great-live, blistering, SRV...but this time he was wearing red velvet, playing in the most well respected place that music is played, and people only dream about playing it in.... An all star lineup makes it a night to remember. This crowd really sets the tone for blues history in the making ..."THANKS FOR MAKING THIS MY BEST BIRTHDAY, EVER....FOREVER!" Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie's guitar flows seemingly effortlessly straight out of his soul. I never was crazy about his vocals, but the guitar jamming more than makes up for that. Watch the dvd "A Tribute to Stevie Ray" and listen to people like Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, BB King and others speak about him. Even these great blues guitarists were very much taken by his gift of playing.