More from Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan | Don’s Tunes

Albert King lights his pipe during a blues jam with Stevie Ray Vaughan from In Session (1983) 

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One of the more revered moments in Austin musical lore is the night in 1975-76 when a skinny young kid known back then as "Little Stevie" got onstage at Antone's, then newly opened on Sixth Street, to jam with blues master Albert King. Consequently, the two blues slingers were well acquainted when they reunited on Canadian TV in late 1983 for In Session. The resulting album is noteworthy if for no other reason than it brings together the two most influential blues guitarists of the past 30 years. King, long the blues colossus who had influenced several generations of blues players, was in tip-top form at that point, while Vaughan, having already forged his now-familiar style that often quoted King note-for-note, was on the cusp on stardom.

After recording In Session, they performed together one last time in 1987 with B.B. King for his “Night of Blistering Blues” in Los Angeles at the Ebony Showcase Theater. 

The story and enduring legacy of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King proves that sometimes you can—and should—meet your heroes. Even though King influenced some of the greatest guitarists in history, from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton to Joe Walsh, it’s clear that he viewed Vaughan as his worthy successor. “If you play too fast or too loud, you cancel yourself out. Once you lose the feeling, you got nothing but a show going on. It’s not deep,” King said. “No doubt about it, Stevie had what it takes.”

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