Texas has a rich history of producing guitar greats, and when two of its finest share the stage for a rare collaboration, you know something special is about to go down. That's exactly what happened on April 8, 1985, at the Fast and Cool Club in Dallas, Texas, when Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson jammed out some tunes to close Stevie's set.
Long before the days of camera phones at every show, no video footage of the pair sharing the stage exists. However, lucky for us, someone had the foresight to smuggle in a cassette recorder — and it makes for quite the listening experience.
Johnson had been opening for Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble that night at the Dallas venue, right in the middle of Stevie's tour supporting his 1984 album Couldn't Stand the Weather.
The pair played three songs together, including the Earl King tune "Come On (Part III)" and "Voodoo Child" by Jimi Hendrix. However, the true highlight came during the performance of "Shake 'n Bake," a Vaughan deep cut that was a staple of his early live shows.
The performance is packed with high points, but be sure not to miss the moment around the three-minute mark, as Johnson's cascading runs seamlessly blend with Stevie's powerhouse phrasing, building up to an epic exchange that the lucky audience in attendance audibly can't get enough of.
Almost 40 years on, Johnson still vividly remembers the sheer power of the performance that night, as he told Guitar Interactive in a recent interview.
"Being onstage with Stevie was like standing next to a hurricane," Johnson recalls. "I opened some shows for Double Trouble, and, I mean, I play loud, but I remember when I went on for the encore and played ‘Voodoo Child’ with him, I couldn't hear anything! I had a full hundred-watt stack, and I couldn't hear it. It was pretty intense out there. He had a huge sound."
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson were still early in their careers. Although international recognition was a ways off, the pair were giants in the thriving Austin music scene. Johnson fondly recalls his first encounters with Vaughan.
"He had just come to Austin, and I met him at a music store called Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music," the revered local haunt frequented by just about every player in the scene and the store where SRV bought his "Number One" Fender Stratocaster.
"I didn't have the pleasure of knowing him really closely, but we were friends. I knew him, and we hung out a little bit, and I did some shows with him. He was a really sweet guy. Even throughout his whole career, after he got successful, he remained a sweet, nice guy — happy, and obviously, a tremendous talent."
Vaughan, of course, had just as much respect for Johnson and his uncommon ability on the instrument and was a big fan of what would have been Johnson's debut — but shelved until 1998 — album, Seven Worlds. Speaking to Guitar Player in 1986, Vaughan said.
"If the record that he made years ago, Seven Worlds, had come out at the time it was ready, instead of being held back for the reason of dollars and pennies... he would have been as big as Jeff Beck.
"He would have been very much in the public eye for modern jazz, rock, and fusion. The guy deserves a lot more recognition than he's ever gotten."
Sadly, these lo-fi recordings document the final time the two guitarists would share the same stage, as Vaughan tragically passed away in August 1990.
Johnson would later pay tribute to his late friend and peer with the track "S.R.V." from his 1996 album, Venus Isle — a song that also featured a guest spot from Stevie's older brother, Jimmie Vaughan, who told Guitar Player last year he is “still in denial” over his brother’s death.
Recently, Johnson has also been paying tribute to both Vaughan and —let's face it — all of our shared musical influence, Jimi Hendrix, as part of the Experience Hendrix tour.
At a show in Seattle last September, another special guest joined him onstage — Izabella, Hendrix's famed 1968 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster, famously used during Jimi's legendary Woodstock performance.
Reflecting on playing the Stratocaster — now primarily housed at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle — for a few Hendrix numbers, Johnson explains that the instrument's mojo is, in part, due to the fact that "it was Jimi's guitar, but it's also a great guitar."
"The universe made sure he got that one," Johnson says. "It's like, 'Oh look, Jimi's down there walking to Manny's in New York. We better get him this guitar.' You know, things happen the way they do, and sometimes they're more than coincidence."
He continues, "It's an amazing guitar. I remember playing it for an hour backstage and just going, gosh, it's real inviting to play. It was just the perfect thing you want — an instrument that makes you forget about yourself — it carries you away"
You can currently catch Eric Johnson on the Experience Hendrix Tour, with dates running through mid-April. No guarantees of Hendrix-played instruments making an appearance, but you can bet the house on some incredible playing.
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