Stevie Ray Vaughan

All the images found below on this page are the exclusive property of T. A. Carlson.
Unauthorized reproductions of images found on this website are in violation of federal, state & local law!
I'm not looking to profit from any pictures, stories, or memorabilia resulting from my professional association with Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Please don't bother asking!

With that preceding message out of the way, I'd like to welcome you to my Stevie Ray Vaughan page. It took a lot of heart-wrenching debate before deciding to share my personal feelings and experiences relating to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Being a huge fan before working for him, made my experiences both exciting and memorable. I worked on three North American tours as his lead truck driver hauling equipment needed for the shows. My memories of him, the band, the crew members and the music, are forever etched in my mind as great experiences that I will always treasure.

I loved watching him perform as often as possible. Every night's performance was different and anything but routine; a tribute to the honesty of emotion that poured from him while playing the music he loved. On many nights I would leave the hotel early and head over to the gig so I could watch him and the band "tear it up". I don't know how many shows I watched him play; easily 75 or more. Watching his performances night after night never became a "canned" event, it was always straight from the heart and soul of Stevie Ray.

He was unquestionably at his peak both personally and professionally when he died, thus adding bittersweet irony to the end of his life. After rising above personal challenges, it's as though God had given him a second chance to leave his best efforts behind as a living legacy. Stevie to put it mildly, delivered with full force!

I hope you enjoy what you see and read on this page...

 * My thanks to Stevie's production staff for allowing me to take photos with the only condition being: "just don't get in the way".
Thanks Mark, Skip, Bill, and Rene!
Click on any of the thumbnails to see larger images of pictures and backstage passes collected from working
on the road with Stevie Ray Vaughan; one the greatest guitar players ever! *

A "behind the back" picture from Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland August 18th, 1988.

Another from the same show with Stevie's back to the crowd.

This one was taken in New York City at Pier 54 on the Live Alive tour in 1988.

Reese Wynans on the keys in NYC.

Stevie & Jimmy at Colorado's "Red Rocks" amphitheater on September 5th, 1988.

Part of the crew backstage at Red Rocks. From left to right: Steve "Bondo" Bond, Kevin Collins, Bill Mounsey, and Rene Martinez.

The band's bus driver, John Brand, with Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynans.

I can't remember where this was taken and I had no clue Stevie was doing the "horns" thing until I developed the film. He had a great sense of humor.

Double Trouble bassist Tommy Shannon - a great human being whose resume looks like a "who's-who" of Texas blues and rock.

Chris "Whipper" Layton's drum kit with hand painted Mexican cock-fighting scenes. Very cool!

Stevie Ray bought this motorized skateboard while on tour. He loved riding it through the crowd before shows and seeing the expressions on peoples faces as he rode by. His management was horrified whenever he fired up his "GoPed". Obviously they were worried that he'd fall and break an arm or something and then the tour would have to stop. I took this picture backstage at the Finger Lakes Arts Center in Canandaigua, N.Y. on Friday the 13th, July 1990.

Laminated crew pass for the last leg of the Live Alive tour in 1988.

Laminated crew pass for the S.R.V./Jeff Beck tour in 1989.

Laminated crew pass for the S.R.V./Joe Cocker tour in 1990.

Skip Rickert was Stevie's tour manager from Strike Force, but it was Mark Rutledge who doubled as the front of house engineer and production manager that kept things running smooth for the crew day to day.

Kim Wilson (l) and Preston Hubbard (r) of the Fabulous Thunderbirds backstage at Red Rocks in 1988. The T-Birds opened a lot of the shows on "Live Alive".

Stevie was buried next to his father at Laurel Land Cemetery in Dallas, Texas. Sometime after this picture was taken, his body was moved to a more accessible site in the cemetery. Some of the families of persons buried near Stevie's grave in the Veteran's portion of the cemetery were rightly upset at all the foot traffic from fans paying their respects.

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