Vaughan,jimmie - Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites [CD]

For Jimmie Vaughan, too much of a good thing is a concept that simply doesn't exist. The legendary Texan guitar dynamo was so pleased with the response to his 2010 album Blues, Ballads and Favorites that he decided to follow it up with a brand new collection he's calling-what else?-More Blues, Ballads and Favorites! Packed with 16 covers of classic tunes that are close to his heart, the album—recorded, like the previous one, in his hometown of Austin, Texas—reunites Vaughan with the same cast of musicians that helped him out on the previous set. Also returning for round two, to assist with the vocals, is Lou Ann Barton, whose powerful pipes grace several tunes on the new release. "The first album was a success," says Vaughan, "and what happened is I never really stopped. Even after I turned the first one in I was still recording. I've decided that, as long as I feel like it, I'm going to do that from now on." Jimmie Vaughan—who first came to prominence as co-founder of the pioneering Texas blues-rock band the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the '70s— has certainly earned the right to do whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. Since he was a kid, Vaughan has dedicated his life to mastering his axe and reminding folks what American music is all about—music, he says, that need not be categorized. "When I talk about country and blues, they're the same thing," he says. "Muddy Waters and Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and Jimmy Reed. When I was a kid I didn't understand the difference. Everybody was always asking me, 'Why do you want to play blues? Why don't you play country?' But I would listen to the country guys and they would be doing a Jimmy Reed song. They're playing the same lick. And Ray Charles, Little Milton, Guitar Junior, Lonnie Brooks, B.B. King—they all did country songs. Is Bob Wills country, blues or jazz? And the answer is, it's American music. And if you don't like it, kiss my ass! I'm tired of trying to pigeonhole everything. I want to bring it together; it comes from the same place."