What Did Eric Clapton Say About Stevie Ray Vaughan?

As part of an interview with A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton shared his love and appreciation for the iconic performer.

He recalled the first moments he heard the unique player’s eclectic tone: “I was in my car, and I remember thinking, ‘I have to find out before the day is over who that guitar player is.

That doesn’t happen to me very often. About three or four times in my life, I felt that way in a car listening to the radio where I’ve stopped the car, pulled over and listened and thought, ‘I’ve got to find out before the end day’.

Not sooner or later, but ‘I have to know now who that is’. I remember being fascinated by the fact that he never ever seemed to be lost in any way”, Clapton said.

For Clapton, it wasn’t necessarily the notes or scales he was playing but the attitude and feeling that emanated from his guitar:

“It wasn’t ever that he took a breather or paused to think where he was going to go next. It just flowed out of him. Always seemed to flow out of him and actually, even that doesn’t come just with virtuosity, practice or any of those. It’s not a question of doing it over and over again or anything like that. It’s just that he seemed to be an open channel. He just flowed through him; he never ever seemed to kind of dry up”, he said.

Despite having a career that spanned only seven short years, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s influence on blues guitar is immense.

It’s impossible to overstate just how much his virtuosic yet accessible style informed those who came after him.

By 1990, the year of Vaughan’s tragic death, the guitarist had already left an indelible mark on the world of blues, a genre that Clapton held dear to his heart.