Texas Platters

Jimmie Vaughan endures. Blues royalty beginning in Seventies Austin, the master guitarist co-founded the Fabulous Thunderbirds and set himself up for a Grammy-winning career now six solid solo LPs in with latest entry Baby, Please Come Home. Brimming with material that inspired a teenage Vaughan in the Dallas suburb of Oak Cliff, the LP wheelbarrows through the Lloyd Price-penned title track with a flurry of brass honks grounded by corporeal six-string shuffles. First studio release in eight years, the 13-track disc lives and breathes the longtime local's mastery of blues, country, even samba rock. On Lefty Frizell's "No One to Talk To (But the Blues)," Vaughan's softly weathered timbre shifts the original's crushing lamentation into weary-eyed heartache. Etta James' "Be My Lovey Dovey" loosens up with a greasy horn section and subs out its original interpreter's purple-dress cool for blue-eyed longing. On song of contrasts "Hold It," Mike Flanigin's Hammond organ suspends in air, buoyed by George Rains' pocket percussion, and Vaughan's coiled Stratocaster. "I'm Still in Love With You," the rhythmic "So Glad," and chicken-pickin' "Baby What's Wrong" serve up their guitarist's tasty trademark blues – elegant, minimalist, alive. No need to reinvent the wheel when it rides so smooth.