Texas Flood

Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1983. Solo by Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Slow Texas blues played with heavy strings and a heavier touch. It helped restart the blues in the 1980s.

Every note here is Vaughan playing live with Double Trouble, with no overdubs, through two Fender Vibroverbs and a borrowed Dumble amplifier, with an Ibanez Tube Screamer as his only pedal. Tuned a half step low, he builds the solos from stinging bends, rapid triplet runs and sudden jumps in volume, stretching the song to about twice the length of Larry Davis's original. It is slow blues played with enormous force, and it helped put the style back in front of rock audiences in the 1980s. The simple recording setup, one microphone per cabinet, keeps the sound direct and physical. Listen for the sudden surges in volume, where Vaughan digs in so hard that the whole band seems to lean forward with him.

Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan is ranked #21 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Stevie Ray Vaughan and the song was released in 1983. It appears on 24 lists, placing as high as #5 (Radio Beat).

The story of Texas Flood

Texas Flood began life as a 1958 single by Arkansas-born bluesman Larry Davis, cut in Houston for Don Robey's Duke label. It is a slow twelve-bar blues in 12/8 time, and on that first record Davis sang and handled bass while Fenton Robinson supplied the guitar, since Davis had not yet taken up the instrument himself. The credit went to Davis and arranger Joe Scott, although Robey initially put his own name on it, and the Blues Foundation has suggested a former bandmate, Ernest Lane, may have had a hand in it.

Stevie Ray Vaughan came across the tune at Antone's, the Austin blues club, where singer Angela Strehli introduced it to him. He kept Davis's basic arrangement but stretched it out with long improvised guitar passages, roughly doubling the running time. Playing G-position shapes on a guitar tuned down a half step, he pitched the song in G-flat. It became a fixture of his club sets long before he had a record deal, and a showcase moment for his trio Double Trouble.

The recording came about through a chain of lucky encounters. At the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, Vaughan met both David Bowie and Jackson Browne; Browne jammed with the band into the early morning and then offered them free time at his Los Angeles studio. Over Thanksgiving weekend 1982, Vaughan, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton set up in a tight circle as if on stage and cut the album in about three days, with the first day largely spent setting up gear.

Veteran talent scout John Hammond heard the demo, helped secure a deal with Epic, and served as executive producer. The album, named after this closing track, arrived on June 13, 1983, and reached No. 38 on the Billboard 200, eventually selling over two million copies in the United States. The title song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Performance and turned into the signature slow blues of Vaughan's career.

The solo

Every note of guitar on Texas Flood is Stevie Ray Vaughan playing live with Double Trouble; the sessions were done without overdubs. Engineer Richard Mullen kept things simple, placing a single Shure SM57 a few inches from each speaker cabinet at an angle. Vaughan ran through two Fender Vibroverb amps plus a 150-watt Dumbleland Special belonging to Jackson Browne, the first time he used that amplifier, and his only pedal was an Ibanez Tube Screamer. Tuned a half step low and phrasing in G-flat, he built the solos from stinging bends, rapid triplet runs and sudden bursts of volume, pushing the song to about twice the length of Larry Davis's original. On stage he often took the solo with the guitar behind his head, a nod to Jimi Hendrix and T-Bone Walker.

Legacy

Texas Flood made Vaughan an international name almost overnight and is widely credited with sparking a blues revival in the 1980s; AllMusic gave the album a perfect score, even though some contemporary critics called it derivative. Rolling Stone placed the title track at No. 66 on its list of the 100 greatest guitar songs. The parent album entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020 and was chosen for the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2026, while the song itself remains a rite of passage for blues guitarists.

Top 10 facts about Texas Flood

On Larry Davis's 1958 original, Fenton Robinson played guitar because Davis had not yet learned the instrument.
Wikipedia
Duke Records owner Don Robey originally took songwriting credit for the song, even though Davis had written it in California in 1955.
Wikipedia
The Blues Foundation has reported that Ernest Lane, a former bandmate of Davis, may have been the actual writer.
Songfacts
Vaughan first heard the song through singer Angela Strehli at Antone's in Austin.
Wikipedia
The words 'Texas Flood' never appear in the lyrics, though the song opens with images of flooding and downed phone lines.
Songfacts
Jackson Browne offered the band his studio after jamming with them all night at Montreux in 1982, and the album was tracked on tape he had been using for his own pre-production.
Far Out Magazine
The Texas Flood sessions marked the first time Vaughan played through the Dumbleland Special amp, which became part of his trademark sound.
Wikipedia
Engineer Richard Mullen recorded the guitar with just one Shure SM57 per cabinet, placed three to four inches away at a 45-degree angle.
Wikipedia
Rolling Stone ranked Vaughan's version No. 66 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.
Wikipedia
The Texas Flood album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020 and added to the National Recording Registry in 2026.
Wikipedia

Live versions

Live Alive (1986) Vaughan's first official live album, featuring an extended concert reading of his signature slow blues.
The Palace, Hollywood (1983) September 1983 concert recording from the Texas Flood tour, issued on later expanded editions of the album.
Live at the El Mocambo (video) (1991) Filmed Toronto club set that became a celebrated showcase of Vaughan's intensity on this song.
Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985 (2001) Captures the song at the festival where Bowie and Jackson Browne first discovered Vaughan.
Live from Austin, Texas (video) (1995) Austin City Limits performances released as a home video after Vaughan's death.

Notable covers

Jimmie Vaughan (1995) Performed by Stevie's brother at the Austin tribute concert later issued as A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson and friends (2014) All-star version with Double Trouble for Austin City Limits' 40th anniversary broadcast.

In our lists

Sources

Who played the guitar solo on Texas Flood?

Stevie Ray Vaughan played the solo on Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood (1983).

What guitar was used on the Texas Flood solo?

A fender stratocaster through a Fender Vibroverb amp, with Ibanez Tube Screamer, according to widely reported accounts.

Where does Texas Flood rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#21 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 24 of them.

Who wrote Texas Flood?

It is credited to Larry Davis and Joseph Scott, and Davis first recorded it in 1958. Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1983 version is a cover.

What album is Texas Flood on?

Vaughan's version is the title track of his 1983 debut album Texas Flood, released by Epic.

What amp did Stevie Ray Vaughan use on Texas Flood?

He used two Fender Vibroverbs and Jackson Browne's 150-watt Dumbleland Special, with an Ibanez Tube Screamer as his only effect.

What key is Texas Flood in?

Vaughan played it with G shapes on a guitar tuned down a half step, so it sounds in G-flat. Davis's original was in A-flat.

Where was Texas Flood recorded?

At Jackson Browne's Down Town studio in Los Angeles over Thanksgiving weekend 1982, played live with no overdubs.