It isn’t slickly produced, and isn’t trying to be. Also, there’s a tiny bit of bait & switch going on, since Stevie Ray is, obviously, not here to provide new content. There are myriad SRV docs culled from the finite footage of his too short life. But it turns out that Jimmie Vaughan has a lot of cogent thoughts and good old’ fashion Texas story-telling within him, and it’s worth watching the film just for the older brother alone.
Of course, people think of Austin when they think of SRV and Double Trouble or Jimmie and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. But it all started in Oak Cliff, Texas – a Dallas suburb where Jimmie Lee and Martha Jean Vaughan were basically the perfect parents for budding musicians: two tow-headed brothers who raided their parents’ album collection and were given instruments by their indulging folks.
The film does a great job of showing where Oak Cliff is in relation to downtown Dallas, and there is a good bit of welcome but unexpected history about the post-war people who came to live in areas like that.
If you’re a lifelong fan (I am), there may not be too much new content about SRV, but to see the now 72 year-old holding forth as the elder, yet still paying homage to all of those who came before him, is charming and informative. He picks up the guitar a couple times too.
There are contributions from several folks you have never heard of; listen to them. These old friends and colleagues from the neighborhood and then the club scene have some great yarns and give a context that you have NOT seen in those other docs. Some legends, like Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, also appear.
The one and only album the Vaughan Brothers recoded was an instant classic when released in 1990 – if nothing else, this will hopefully inspire folks who missed it to check it out.
The film is available here: Brothers in Blues
