AUDIO PROFILES

Suzanne Vega
Songs in Red and Gray

Suzanne Vega's Songs In Red And Gray finds the accomplished singer-songwriter reacting to unexpected changes by writing beautifully crafted songs that may be the most emotionally direct of her career. Vega looks at big questions, old memories and small details of her life to fill her songs. Add to that cinematic arrangements and the result is a CD that's as striking as it is moving.

- Suzanne Vega says she wrote most of Songs In Red And Gray after a very difficult period.

- The first written for the CD is a snapshot of home and includes her young daughter, Ruby.

- Vega says her songs often start as fleeting thoughts; but she fined-tuned these songs at Greenwich Village Songwriter Exchange meetings in Jack Hardy's apartment.

- Working with producer Rupert Hines, Vega says she turned her acoustic folks songs into cinematic compositions.

©Copyright 2000, BEHINDtheBEAT, Inc.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
SRV/Box Set

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble set the standard for modern blues guitar for many years, right up to Vaughan's 1990 death in a helicopter crash. Vaughan's passionate and powerful playing was evident from the start. The Vaughan box set SRV holds a wealth of unissued concert material, from his earliest days in bars to his final performances. The collection shows the emergence, growth and ascendency of a master musician and his fabulous rhythmn section, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton.

- Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton says the SRV box set captures the band's essence by focusing on live performances.

- Layton remembers what it was like hearing a young Stevie Ray Vaughan play guitar - before they were in a band.

- In 1985, the band added a fourth member, Reese Wynans on keyboards, and the sound got larger.

- In late 1986, Vaughan and his bandmates got sober and their music got even better.

©Copyright 2000, BEHINDtheBEAT, Inc.