Jimmie Vaughan
Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites (Shout! Factory)File Jimmie Vaughan in that prestigious group of musicians who don’t make bad albums, but that does him a disservice. Co-founding the Fabulous Thunderbirds set up the master guitarist for a Grammy-winning solo career that’s produced four rock-solid LPs, never hurried and never overdone. New offering Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites leads with “The Pleasure’s All Mine,” grinning atop Vaughan’s signature guitar and the invitation to dance. Sole original “Comin’ & Goin'” needs no words, its sublime horn-driven shuffle suggesting the local six-stringer has a jazz disc in him, but it’s the understated choice of vintage covers that makes this eclectic album so friendly. The names you know maybe, but not these tunes: Little Richard’s “Send Me Some Lovin’,” LaVern Baker’s “Wheel of Fortune,” Jimmy Reed’s “Come Love.” Here, lesser-known names leave behind belly-rubbing gems Vaughan has polished to a blue shine; “The Pleasure’s All Mine” comes from Billy “The Kid” Emerson and “I Miss You So” from the inimitable Ted Taylor. Positioning Lou Ann Barton as soloist and duet partner is chrome on the trailer hitch and creates PBBF‘s finest moments, such as the phone exchange in “I Miss You So.” Bar- ton’s decades overdue for another of her own recordings, the local blues siren so yearning on Dale & Grace’s “I’m Leavin’ It Up to You” as she melds at the microphone with Vaughan’s own soulful vocals. Then there’s the platinum track. Onetime James Brown organist and Vaughan bandmate for 15 years, the late Bill Willis steals Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites at closing, crooning the bittersweet “Funny How Time Slips Away” with veteran grace. It’s the kiss after the dance, and truly, Jimmie, the pleasure’s all ours.
This article appears in July 16 • 2010.