This week in Texas music history, Stevie Ray Vaughan heads to Switzerland, but it’s far from neutral ground.
On July 17, 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan played the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the first time an unsigned act performed at the prestigious festival’s main stage. Montreux, on the banks of Lake Geneva, showcased the world’s best jazz performers, but it also programmed a blues night for European fans of the genre. Still, it wasn’t an obvious move for Stevie Ray Vaughan.
By 1982, Stevie had climbed the rungs of the Austin blues scene at the Rome Inn and Antone’s, where he’d once been seen mainly as Jimmie Vaughan’s kid brother. He’d formed Double Trouble with bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton, a world-beating combo in talent and swagger if not yet in fact. This is the moment when manager Chesley Milliken made a series of moves to expose the world to what Austin already knew: Stevie Ray Vaughan had it. Milliken secured Double Trouble the opening slot for The Clash on the Austin date for their Combat Rock tour. The punks sneered, and Stevie pulled out of the second night. Milliken introduced the Rolling Stones to Stevie’s work, and they arranged a showcase at Manhattan’s trendy Danceteria attended by the likes of Andy Warhol and Johnny Winter. The celebrity crowd didn’t quite yet match Mick Jagger’s enthusiasm for the group. And then, at Montreux, as the band struck up “Texas Flood,” they were met with a smattering of boos not unlike those from punks back home. Then, over a few songs, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble won them over.
After that main stage debut, the band held down a smaller basement stage the next few nights, and that’s where the real Montreux effect came into play. David Bowie expressed his appreciation and invited Stevie to join the recording sessions for the album Let’s Dance. Jackson Browne attended one of the basement shows, and ended up jamming with Double Trouble into the early morning hours. He offered the band time in his own recording studios to make a demo.
The Browne and Bowie connections would lead to a fork in the road—Stevie Ray Vaughan famously turned down the offer to join Bowie as a sideman on the Let’s Dance tour, betting instead on the demo-turned-debut album he’d fashioned in Browne’s studio. It paid off, with Stevie Ray Vaughan spearheading the 80s blues revival and returning triumphant to the Montreux Festival in 1985, a prodigal son.
Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Pride and Joy” at Montreux, 1982
Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Texas Flood” at Montreux, 1982
Sources:
Joe Nick Patoski and Bill Crawford. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire. New York: Little, Brown, 1993.
Media:
Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Hideaway/Rude Mood” at Montreux, 1982
Stevie Ray Vuaghan, “Texas Flood” at Montreux, 1982
