Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan: Brothers in Blues tells the story of the Vaughan brothers, from their musical start in Oak Cliff and Austin, Texas to the later blues stardom of Stevie Ray Vaughan. The documentary, written and directed by Kirby Warnock, was made possible by the full-fledged support of Jimmie Vaughan, who sat down to share many personal stories and photographs from the brothers’ youth.
The film will air on Texas PBS stations December 5-7; local listing times can be found here. It will appear alongside the Austin City Limits special Stevie Ray Vaughan on Austin City Limits: 30 Years On, which features an hour of the late rocker’s iconic live performances on the ACL stage.
Additionally, the documentary includes interviews with many of the brothers’ early bandmates, as well as Stevie’s contemporaries such as Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Jackson Browne and Nile Rodgers. In their only on-camera interview together, Clapton and Jimmie Vaughn talk about their final performance with Stevie at Alpine Valley the night he died in a helicopter crash.
While chronicling the Vaughan brothers’ rise to fame, Brothers in Blues also explores the Texas music scene of the ’60s and ’70s, taking viewers through many of the era’s famous nightclubs and musical legends. With never-before-seen interviews and home videos, the documentary recounts the musical history of Texas through the rise of Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
