20 years ago today, a helicopter carrying Stevie Ray Vaughan crashed into a hill here in my adopted state. I remember having a really crappy day at work when the word came on the radio that both he and Eric Clapton had been killed. The report was later revised to just SRV. The only good thing is that they spent the rest of the day playing his music. One can only wonder what direction his music would have taken, given some of the shifts already seen in "In Step" and his ordering of a Soldano SLO.

Like him or not, he is without a doubt one of the most influential blues guitarists of my generation. RIP, Stevie.