“We were told they’d all gone down. You’ll never see a house full of people get so quiet, it was pin-drop silence – eventually we found out Buddy and Eric were okay”: Veteran bluesman Larry McCray recalls the night Stevie Ray Vaughan died

Larry McCray's remarkable list of mentors is chock-full of blues heavyweights, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Albert Collins, to name a mere few.

In his new album, Heartbreak City, the elder statesman of the blues’ talents are on full display – boosted by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith in the production chair, and guest features by the likes of Kirk Fletcher and Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynans.

“I loved talking to Reese about his time with Stevie [Ray Vaughan], who I never got to hang with,” McCray tells Guitarist.

Indeed, the blues veteran was in Chicago, eagerly awaiting the famous Strat wielder’s rumored surprise appearance on the night the guitar and blues worlds were left reeling by Vaughan’s death.

“The night he died, I was at Buddy Guy’s Legends club [in Chicago] waiting for Buddy, Stevie, and Clapton because there was a rumor they were about to come and jam,” he recalls.

“All these musicians were waiting to see them. Then we were told they’d all gone down. You’ll never see a house full of people get so quiet, it was pin-drop silence, and eventually we found out Buddy and Eric were okay.

“It was a terrible thing,” he says solemnly. “I’ll never forget that day.”

Vaughan was 35 when he passed away in a helicopter crash outside East Troy, Wisconsin, on August 27, 1990. That evening, the guitarist and his band, Double Trouble, performed at Alpine Valley Music Theater – alongside Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, and Vaughan's older brother, Jimmie.

For more from McCray, plus new interviews with Keith Urban and Steve Stevens, pick up issue 532 of Guitarist.