An Exercise in Resurrection: Crafting My Dream Stevie Ray Vaughan Setlist

Recently, at the invitation of a friend, I saw a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute at a West Bank bar. It was an up-and-down, but ultimately enjoyable enough, night with plenty of skilled guitarists playing the work of Dallas' best musical export and one of my all-time favorite artists.

Of course, there were some moments where I was reminded that I was not watching Vaughan himself – mainly on the vocal side, since he had such a powerful and distinctive voice that perfectly fit his brand of blues rock. Anyone would sound underwhelming by comparison.

I've told friends before, and I still believe, that if I could bring back any one musician that died prematurely for a one-off show, it would be either Keith Moon or Stevie Ray Vaughan. In the interest of serving the latter fantasy, and of relating to my tribute show experience, I present my ideal setlist for a Vaughan resurrection concert.

As said in the Iron Maiden iteration of this exercise, the rules to which I hold myself are straightforward: The setlist must be roughly the same length as what the artist would typically do. On his last tour, Vaughan played 14 or 15 songs, so we'll do 15. I can pick whatever songs I want (as long as he played or recorded it at least once) and choose their order, though my hypothetical setlist doesn't necessarily have to match a list of my 15 favorite songs he recorded. I try to include a good mix of standards and B-sides, and I try to avoid redundancies.

With everything properly introduced, let's get on with it.

Set

"Rude Mood"

As demonstrated on Couldn't Stand the Weather and Soul to Soul, an up-tempo, rocking instrumental makes for a solid opening song. Instead of "Scuttle Buttin'" or "Say What!" (both good songs), I'm going with "Rude Mood." It has an energy to it that immediately makes me turn up the volume, and the solo is impressive without being overbearing. I think it's a great tone-setter.

"Scratch-N-Sniff"

While I don't have a ton off of which to go – just Setlist.fm statistics – it looks like Vaughan only played this once, about a month before releasing In Step. It's a shame, since this is something a favorite of mine among his pithy rockers.

"Pride and Joy"

"Crossfire" was his biggest hit, but Vaughan's trademark song might have been "Pride and Joy," the second track from his debut and his first single. 

"Texas Flood" (cover)

"Texas Flood" and "The Sky Is Crying" are similar songs with similar reputations, so I thought it was important to include one (but not both) of them. I prefer the former because I think the solo doesn't drag on quite as much, and it's more of a Vaughan signature.

"Couldn't Stand the Weather"

The title track to Vaughan's best album ranks among his very best original songs. He only played "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" more often, reflecting its status as a classic.

"You'll Be Mine" (cover)

The Howlin' Wolf recording of "You'll Be Mine" is pretty relaxed compared to the up-tempo version Vaughan released on Soul to Soul. It drives in a way characteristic of so many of his songs, with so much energy and flair. I include it for this reason.

"Superstition" (cover)

Vaughan was fond of covering Stevie Wonder's classic, something he did more than 130 times. One of these performances made it onto Live Alive, and it subsequently became a single with a video that features a cameo from Wonder himself.

It was a standard for Vaughan, and I'm happy to include it.

"Dirty Pool"

I consider "Dirty Pool" the best song on Texas Flood, in large part because Vaughan is so impressive, both as singer and especially as guitarist. He makes his notes sound like flowing water, a neat and fitting trick considering the title.

"Tightrope"

"Tightrope" is plainly about addiction, but it has an aura of positivity. Instead of being like the Rolling Stones' "Sister Morphine," for example, where the lyrics are about an active struggle, it feels more optimistic. It's like Vaughan said he came out of his addiction scarred but improving, a vibe you get throughout In Step.

In addition to its lyrical qualities, "Tightrope" is just a fun song and one of the better ones on the record. It featured prominently in his final tour, and I want to include it here.

"Life Without You"

If I were to say any song was the "last cut" from my setlist, I would say "Change It," written by Vaughan's friend Doyle Bramhall. It's a powerful song where Double Trouble (by then essentially Triple Trouble with the addition of keyboardist Reese Wynans) plays a prominent role than they normally do, providing an important and noticeable extra layer. I wanted to fit it in somewhere, but with only so many slots, and arguably a better weighty song at the end of the same record, I left it out.

I instead picked the more traditional ballad, "Life Without You." It features Vaughan trying to sing with a little more tenderness and make his guitar cry a little more, which I would say works. Despite being a little cheesy, I love the song.

"Stang's Swang"

The first-time listener to Couldn't Stand the Weather finds a surprise at the end of the album in the form of this jazzy instrumental, complete with tenor saxophone. As a unique track in the Vaughan discography (until the posthumous release of his cover of Kenny Burrell's "Chitlins con Carne"), "Stang's Swang" provides a nice change of pace in the final stretch of this hypothetical setlist.

"The Things (That) I Used to Do" (cover)

One of my favorite videos on YouTube is of Vaughan (with his brother Jimmie playing rhythm guitar, as he did on the studio recording) playing "The Things (That) I Used to Do" in Honolulu in 1984. The camerawork is naturally amateurish and strays from the star, but the photographer still gets some good shots, and the audio is about as perfect as you can get for something captured via camcorder.

What I love about the video – and the song itself, one of my very favorites – is that it demonstrates Vaughan's dual abilities. His voice soars like it does on few other songs; and he makes playing a face-melting solo seem both difficult and effortless. At one point, he plainly shows off and plays with just one hand on the instrument. It's a video that reminds you how brilliant he really was.

"Empty Arms" (The Sky Is Crying version)

"Empty Arms" originally appeared on Soul to Soul as a slower, almost drunk-sounding song with Vaughan himself playing drums instead of Chris Layton. I'm not really a fan of this version.

However, apparently sometime around the Couldn't Stand the Weather sessions, Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded a much faster, rocking version of "Empty Arms" that Jimmie eventually made the third track on The Sky Is Crying. It's a wonder how the slow version was chosen for Soul to Soul, as the rocker is so much better, almost to the point of being a classic in his catalog.

(A search for the song on YouTube indicates I'm not alone in thinking this: The results clearly favor the song released in 1991 and covers of it.)

"The House Is Rockin'"

This is a straight-up pop-rock song, complete with over-the-top music video depicting a massive dance party.



But it works. At two minutes and 24 seconds, it's one of Vaughan's shortest studio recordings and one of his most accessible and recognizable. (The Dallas Stars have at various points played it as a victory song.) While I have a built-in encore, "The House Is Rockin'" works as a triumphant way to end the main set.

Encore

"Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place in Town)" (cover)

When Vaughan and Double Trouble first recorded "Tin Pan Alley," the producer apparently told them right after that they were never going to do any better. I don't know if the three of them tried again just to be sure, but I cannot imagine they could have possibly topped it. It's the smoothest and best song they recorded, highlighted by understated but still masterful guitarwork and maybe Vaughan's best vocal performance.

It's doesn't provide the bang you usually expect out of an encore or a closer, but it has to go at the end because anything that follows it would feel like a letdown.