Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan: Brothers in Blues (2023)

2023

Documentary

IMDb Rating 7/10

Plot summary

"That boy came from nowhere and went everywhere," said Lou Ann Barton the day that Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a tragic helicopter accident. Using never-before-seen photos and home movies as well as the only on-camera interviews of Eric Clapton and Jimmie Vaughan who were there the night Stevie died, JIMMIE AND STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN: BROTHERS IN BLUES provides new revelations about one of the greatest guitarists of all time and the person he called his favorite guitarist, brother Jimmie. Featuring interviews with Billy Gibbons, Jackson Browne, Nile Rodgers and their earliest band mates, the film traces the climb of two young men from a small, frame house in Oak Cliff to the top of the rock heap in the era before Tik Tok, Facebook and the Internet. The film also looks at the explosion of rock bands after the Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, the teen club scene in Oak Cliff that spawned the Vaughan Brothers, and their eventual move to Austin, TX where they became mainstays of the late 70s "live music capitol of the world" landscape. From there their recording careers are highlighted, as well as their collaborations with the rock and roll elite (David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Billy Gibbons, Carlos Santana, Nile Rodgers, etc.) while ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons tells of playing the Texas club circuit in the 1960s and watching a 15-year-old Jimmie Vaughan performing with The Chessmen, his early band. As the only production that Jimmie Vaughan has ever collaborated with, he and Eric Clapton give their first on-camera interviews about what happened on the night that Stevie died, while Jackson Browne recounts loaning his recording studio to Double Trouble and singing at Stevie's funeral. Nile Rodgers tells of working with Stevie on David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and producing "Family Style", the last studio recording by Jimmie and Stevie. Filled with rock history, never-before-seen photos and home movies, as well as previously untold stories from the people who were "in the room when it happened", JIMMIE AND STEVIE RAY VAUGHAH: BROTHERS IN BLUES is a must-see for any baby boomer and an eye-opening revelation for those who don't know the Vaughan brothers and their enduring legacy.—Kirby Warnock