A new film debuting this week offers a look into the lives and careers of two Texas music legends from Dallas. Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan grew up in Oak Cliff before finding national success in the 1980's. The film about them is called "Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan: Brothers in Blues." It's showing in Dallas this week and is also available on several major streaming services.
"I found their story to be amazing," said director Kirby Warnock. "How many of your classmates did you know that dropped out of high school at 14 and said 'I'm going to become a professional musician'...and did it? I always thought that was an amazing tale, and I always wanted to tell it."
Both brothers gained national fame for their guitar playing in the 1980's. The debut album from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, "Texas Flood", was released in 1983. The album reached the top 40 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and two of the tracks were nominated for Grammy Awards. Jimmie Vaughan played guitar in The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The group had a string of hit singles starting in 1986. Jimmie Vaughan eventually left The Fabulous Thunderbirds to record an album with Stevie Ray. The album "Family Style" was released in 1990. Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in August of 1990 in Wisconsin. Jimmie has continued recording and his 2001 solo album "Do You Get the Blues?" received the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.
Both Jimmie and Stevie Ray met and played with some of the biggest names in rock and roll, and many of them were interviewed for the new documentary.
"We got interviews with Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Jackson Browne, Nile Rodgers…and we got all those because of the cooperation of Jimmie Vaughan," said Warnock. "Then, I tracked down a bunch of his early band-mates – he and Stevie – to get some verification of some stories I had heard about them growing up in Oak Cliff."
Both brothers made their mark on the music scene in Austin in the 1970's in separate bands, but Warnock says they got their start in their home town of Dallas.
"Austin is where they got their fame, but all their roots are back in Oak Cliff – and we have a lot of people telling us that," he said. "This was where they were both born and raised and both got their start. They both had their first bands here."Warnock arranged for special screenings in Oak Cliff to honor their connection to the neighborhood. A screening at the Texas Theater on Thursday, March 23rd will feature an in-person appearance by Jimmie Vaughan. Tickets for that event are already sold out. There's an additional screening on Friday, March 24th. The film also had a screening in Austin and there are showings scheduled in Houston at the Heights Theater on Sunday, March 26th and the Hippodrome Theater in Waco on Monday, March 27th.
Even devoted fans of the Vaughan brothers' music will find something new in the documentary, Warnock said.
"I got in touch with Jimmie and Stevie's cousin, Connie Trent, and she had several home movies at family functions back when they were 10 and 9 years old," he said, "We got those in the film…and that was really an 'OMG' moment!"
Fans who can't make it to the theater can catch the film on several streaming or video on demand services including AT&T U-Verse, DirecTV, Dish Network, Sling TV, Apple TV, iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Xbox, VUDU, and YouTube Movies.
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