Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Live From Austin, Texas (DVD), Sony, Music & Performance

Like so many living legends and phenomenal talents, Stevie Ray died in a helicopter crash in 1991. Luckily, there are scores of recordings documenting the genius of this Texan blues guitarist, including these appearances on Austin City Limits and more. 1983-89/color/63 min/NR/fullscreen.

Viewed today, Stevie Ray Vaughan's only two appearances on "Austin City Limits" (bookending, as they do, his recording career with Double Trouble) offer a study in contrasts and chronicle the evolution of a brief but amazing musical saga. As has repeatedly been cited by innumerable musicians who "knew him when," he could always play. That was a given. But the guitarslinger who took the release of his debut album, Texas Flood, and the Stevie Ray who returned in 1989, following the release of In Step, were two different people.

In '83, still in his twenties, Stevie was hungry, out to prove something, visibly nervous, and not entirely stable. This was serious business. But by '89, at 35, he was a changed man. He was back at home, he had kicked drugs and alcohol, overcome living hell and a brush with death. From here on out was icing on the cake, and he savored every moment. This was a blast!

Serious, yes, but serious, fun.

"Austin City Limits" producer Terry Lickona concurs: "When he did the show the first time, he was a combination of nervous, paranoid, and so insecure. Zero self-confidence and sweating big-time the whole night. The contrast between that first show and the next was night and day. The 1989 show was pure magic. And without exaggeration this retrospective, based on the response it's had, is the most popular "Austin City Limits" program that's ever aired in the show's 20-year history.

An added bonus, the coda that completes this audio-visual composition, is the posthumous video of "Little Wing," which deftly intertwines footage of Stevie and Double Trouble with rare glimpses of blues greats from Leadbelly to Hendrix, from Big Bill Broonzy to T-Bone Walker. The most poignant scenes, and the ones that would no doubt be closest to Stevie's heart, are clips of Alberts King and Collins holding Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Model Stratocasters. In his wildest dreams Stevie probably couldn't have envisioned being part of the Fender line, let alone the image of these legends, now also deceased, playing anything but their trademark Flying V and Telecaster. Much in the way he could write volumes with only a few notes, Mr. King sums up his disciple: "I would describe him as a guitar master. He had made up in his mind the guitar wasn't gonna master him - he was gonna master it. And he did just that." Can I hear an amen?

By Kayla