“Texas Flood – The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan” 

St. Martin’s Press – Release Date: August 13, 2019

Austin, TX – “Pure, honest and right there,” are a few of the words Tommy Shannon (bassist, Double Trouble) uses to describe “Texas Flood” (the Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble breakthrough album). Today, I use those same three words to describe “Texas Flood” the book.

As an avid reader of music history, I have often read multiple books about a single artist that seemed to be telling different stories. The reason this book is so pure is that the only voices you are hearing are those of Stevie’s family, his bandmates, and a plethora of his musical peers and heroes. Authors Alan Paul and Andy Aledort act simply as curators to decades worth of interview footage and almost 200 photos that present this story with complete objectivity. The only interpretation a reader can extrapolate from this text is his or her own.

I was almost uncomfortable reading about all the ways in which Stevie was irrational, irresponsible and inflicted pain upon people, but now have a much deeper understanding of how bands were formed, how songs were written and even how recording sessions produced specific energy and sounds.

The piece of this book that was the most honest was the detailed chronicling of how Stevie battled his addiction to drugs and alcohol. There are too many musician biographies/biopics that focus on the artist hitting rock bottom, checking into a rehab facility and then fast forwarding to “rest of their life”. “Texas Flood” provides an unfiltered look into how normal someone’s life can look while they struggle with getting sober. Stevie was not in a rehab facility for 28 days, he was playing shows, traveling around the world and somehow overcoming temptation to emerge victorious. This journey, as told through the eyes of those closest to him, is an incredible one to follow and enhanced my understanding of what so many other musicians have dealt with both before and after Stevie.

One of the greatest pleasures in studying history is traveling to the locations one reads about and soaking in the energy where events took place decades or even centuries previously. Texas Flood essentially provides a guided tour for fans to make a pilgrimage to Austin, TX and come as close as possible to experiencing this legend in the places, and with the people, he spent his own life. Not only do many of the locations mentioned still stand, you can even find many of the main voices in this story still playing the blues just as they did decades ago with Stevie.

Jimmie Vaughan still plays most weekends at C-Boys, Tommy Shannon and W.C. Clark play frequently at Antone’s, Derek O’Brien and Lou Ann Barton can be found at the Saxon Pub and Chris Layton keeps a busy schedule on the road but can always be found back in Austin, TX around New Year’s for the Jungle Shows alongside other local blues giants including Billy Gibbons.

I highly recommend this book to any fan of SRV, the blues or music history in general. It is a pure, honest and in-depth chronicling of one of the best guitar players to have ever lived and spares no detail with regard to how deeply he loved, how painfully he suffered or how passionately he played.

Pre-Order this book now at: Bit.ly/TexasFloodSRV