22frets.com

I stumbled onto Craig Hopkins’ book, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Day by Day Night After Night a few years back looking for something SRV related, but it was a little too expensive for me to justify at the time ($75 plus shipping). Well, problem solved!

The book is being republished by Backbeat Books in two volumes: The first, The Early Years 1954-1982, is already out, and the second volume will be out next Fall.  It’s $32 for the first volume, but you can find it for less if you shop around, especially with the holidays looming.  I haven’t finished it yet, but this book is fantastic.  I can’t believe the level of detail.  It covers much more detail than any biography I’ve read, including details about every known performance (with setlists, when available), broadcast information, interviews with family, friends, bandmates, club owners, and others close to Stevie.  But perhaps most amazing are the photos and memorabilia in the book.  The book’s a real treasure, and Mr. Hopkins obviously put a lot of time and research into it.  And for his work, he won the Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Literature.