From the Facebook, here for the records:
10 Albums Challenge Day 2 … supposed to be “… an album cover that greatly influenced your taste in music. No explanations, no reviews …” Come on, let’s crank this up!
After the Stones, and the Beatles, I got into heavy metal for a spell circa grade 4-6, with a dash of the Stray Cats and some 50’s music on the side. At one point I wanted to be Mic Mars and Jordan wanted to be Nikki Sixx, so he bought a bass and I got an electric guitar. But then I stumbled into this record, heard some rumblings in some guitar magazines that this was a real guitar slinger. I was about to go on a family trip. I had a walkman and a duffle bag of tapes (entirely heavy metal). But for the next two week all I listened to was this Soul to Soul record on repeat. I would air guitar all the solos. So, from Grade 7 onwards, this was it: the blues.
I cannot express enough how much I fucking love Stevie Ray Vaughan. I would learn his tunes, mimic his tone, buy the same guitar rig he had (still have my Tube Screamer to this day) – he was my hero. I played alongside his records in my bedroom for YEARS. And I still do. When he died I was crestfallen, he got clean, was playing better than ever. MuchMusic had a raffle for someone to win his signature Strat. I mailed in a truck load of letters. I never won’t the guitar but I got a live in the el mo VHS. Still have it.
For me, the greatest fucking guitar player I’ve ever heard. Raw. Real. Knocks my socks off.