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Amazing reviews are coming in for the 30th anniversary Legacy Edition of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s debut album, Texas Flood! Here are excerpts:

In this expanded reissue, Texas Flood sounds just as fresh, bold and inspired. Whether it’s the slow blues of the five minute title track and “Dirty Pool,” the caffeinated picking showcase of the instrumental “Rude Mood” or closer “Lenny”’s nimble jazz runs, Vaughan and his band burst forth like energized pros instead of newbies tentatively making their first album. This double anniversary package with excellent historical liner notes adds a previously unreleased, hour long live gig from Philadelphia in October, 1983. The show absolutely sizzles with a band firing on every cylinder as they blast through fiery versions of the album’s tracks along with searing takes of Hendrix classics “Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and a medley of “Little Wing/Third Stone from the Sun.” The attack is one of a road tested unit that is still young and hungry with plenty to prove. – American Songwriter

His debut album was recorded in a matter of days of free time donated by Jackson Browne in his Los Angeles studio. What occurred there still sounds like healing of the highest order, as the guitarist’s Stratoscaster reached for the heavens from note one on “Love Struck Baby,” and kept going deeper and harder on the next nine songs. …There’s a second disc of a live ’83 show in Philadelphia that reflects the promise of everything that was to come for Vaughan, drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon. Their world was just starting to turn back then, and would soon open up to a safe haven for the deepest music of the soul. – The Morton Report

Texas Flood Legacy Edition, which — along with the original 1983 Texas Flood album — includes a previously unreleased concert, recorded live at Ripley’s Music Hall in Philadelphia on October 20, 1983. It freakin’ smokes. That’s no real surprise, since Vaughan was the type of artist who gave his all every time he hit the stage. …His performances of then-new Texas Flood numbers like “Pride and Joy,” “Love Struck Baby,” and the title track are shiver-inducing, and his passion for Jimi Hendrix comes alive on “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and the “Little Wing”/”Third Stone From the Sun” medley. – Straight.com

Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon of Double Trouble, the band that Stevie Ray Vaughan fronted for years, sat in a North Austin coffee shop on a recent afternoon, trying to wrap their heads around the last three decades. Things are coming into focus with the release of the 30th-anniversary Legacy Edition of Texas Flood, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s debut album.

…Mr. Layton said he remembered thinking Texas Flood, released in June 1983, had a lot going against it. The album was raw and muscular, flush with guitar histrionics and deep Texas blues, mixing both original compositions and tunes from Howlin’ Wolf, the Isley Brothers and Buddy Guy. It was a departure from the Billboard Hot 100, which featured singles from Culture Club and Men at Work.

…“Right after the record came out, we pulled up to the place where we were supposed to perform in San Francisco,” Mr. Shannon said. “We’d played there a few times before to maybe 50 people. Now there were hundreds outside that couldn’t get in. We pulled up and thought, ‘Who’s playing here tonight?’ We couldn’t fathom they were here for us.”

Read more at The New York Times.

GuitarWorld.com has an exclusive stream of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble performing live at Ripley’s Music Hall, Philadelphia, on October 20, 1983. This live set is available in the deluxe, 30th-anniversay edition of Texas Flood, in stores now!

The reissue includes liner notes by music historian Ashley Kahn. In his notes, he writes, “The story of Texas Flood — more than any other recording by the guitarist — is the story of Stevie Ray. The album stands closest to his personal roots, roots that grew from a loamy mix of deep Southern blues, Texas R&B, and white-boy rock ‘n’ roll.”

Listen and read more at Guitar World.

In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the legendary Texas Flood album, our friends at Guitar World are featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan on the cover of their March issue. Take a look at our exclusive sneak peak of the cover before it hits stands.

Today is the day that you can get Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s expanded Texas Flood two-disc 30th anniversary edition! To celebrate the album’s release, we’ve teamed with Fender, Ultimate Classic Rock and GuySpeed to give one lucky fan a Stevie Ray Vaughan signature model Stratocaster valued at $2,399.99. Ten runners-up also will win the Texas Flood Legacy Edition album.

The Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster is modeled on “SRV #1.” The three-color sunburst guitar has a maple neck with a pau ferro fingerboard, three “Texas Special” single-coil pickups, left-handed tremolo placement, Vaughan’s signature on the neck and his initials printed on the pickguard.

To enter, simply follow @ultclassicrock and @guy_speed on Twitter and re-tweet the announcement of the giveaway by 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. A winner will be chosen at random.

Read more at Ultimate Classic Rock.

Stevie Ray Vaughan knew how to rock. Check out this new Soundrop online room full of SRV’s music! Listen in Spotify, invite your friends, and vote for your favorite tracks to make the perfect listening room, featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan’s top tracks, deep cuts, influences, followers, friends and covers.

Celebrate Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s release of “Live Alive” 26 years ago this month! Go to Music Unlimited from Sony Entertainment Network to listen to the full album for free.

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announces the release of an expanded two-disc 30th anniversary edition of Texas Flood, the electrifying debut album by the American blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, available everywhere Tuesday, January 29, 2013.


A live sensation on the Austin, Texas club circuit since the late 1970s, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble–Stevie Ray (guitar, vocals), Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris “Whipper” Layton (drums)–turned in a particularly memorable show at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1982, catching the ears of David Bowie (who enlisted Stevie Ray for his Let’s Dance album) and Jackson Browne (who offered the band free use of his Los Angeles recording studio). Accepting the offer, Stevie Ray and Double Trouble recorded several tracks over a whirlwind three days (with day one mainly devoted to setting up equipment) with the resultant tracks grabbing the attention of legendary record producer John Hammond, who’d discovered and signed Bob Dylan, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin and many others. Hammond brought Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble to Epic Records, which released the remastered tracks as Texas Flood in 1983.

Executive produced by John Hammond, the original Texas Flood album was produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton and engineer Richard Mullen. The Legacy Edition of Texas Flood is produced by Gregg Geller (who, as head of Epic’s A&R 1983, signed Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble to the label).

An immediate and surprising success, Texas Flood peaked at #38 on the Billboard 200 while “Pride and Joy” shot up to #20 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The album’s title track was nominated for a Best Traditional Blues Performance Grammy while “Rude Mood” grabbed a Grammy nom for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The album has sold more than 2 million copies since its original release.

Originally released on Epic Records on June 13, 1983, Texas Flood, an unapologetic apotheosis of electric blues supercharged for a post-disco post-punk pop world, introduced audiences to a soul-filled sound that existed outside both the mainstream and underground tastes of its era. The album opened the gates of a fiery blues resurgence with Stevie Ray Vaughan signature compositions like “Pride and Joy” and “Love Struck Baby” flowing naturally alongside covers of deep blues and R&B standards by Howlin’ Wolf, the Isley Brothers, Buddy Guy and Larry Davis.

Disc One of the 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition of Texas Flood includes the original album in its entirety with the bonus track “Tin Pan Alley” (aka “Roughest Place in Town”).

Disc Two of the newly expanded Texas Flood will premiere a previously unavailable hour’s long set of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble live at Ripley’s Music Hall in Philadelphia. Recorded on October 20, 1983 for a WMMR broadcast, the extraordinary Ripley’s performance finds Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble coming straight out of the gun already at an undeniable peak of their formidible powers.

Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble – >Texas Flood
(2 CD 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition)

Disc One – Texas Flood
Love Struck Baby
Pride and Joy
Texas Flood
Tell Me
Testify
Rude Mood
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Dirty Pool
I’m Cryin’
Lenny

Bonus track:
Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place In Town)

Executive Producer: John Hammond
Produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Richard Mullen and Double Trouble

Disc Two – Live at Ripley’s Music Hall, Philadelphia, October 20, 1983
Testify
So Excited
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Pride and Joy
Texas Flood
Love Struck Baby
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place In Town)
Little Wing/Third Stone From The Sun

Previously unreleased

The 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition of Texas Flood includes extensive liner notes by noted music historian Ashley Kahn (A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album; Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece). In his notes, Kahn writes, “The story of Texas Flood—more than any other recording by the guitarist—is the story of Stevie Ray. The album stands closest to his personal roots, roots that grew from a loamy mix of deep Southern blues, Texas R&B, and white-boy rock ‘n’ roll. It echoes his earliest triumphs as a guitarist, and serves as the triumphant finish-line to a ten-year run of hustling and scuffling that began in 1973, when the Dallas-born, 18-year old left home for the Austin music scene.”

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Today would have been Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 58th birthday. Celebrate his memory with the music video for his hit song “Couldn’t Stand the Weather.”

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Given the magnitude of Stevie’s recorded legacy, it’s hard to believe his career as a solo recording artist for Epic lasted only seven years. This electrifying shot was taken at what must have been an awesome CBS sales conference in Honolulu, just prior to the release of SRV’s second LP in 1984. Please share your thoughts and memories in the comments below and at SRV’s Facebook page.