Below, you can check out Joe Jeremiah's mesmerizing piano version of Vaughan's instrumental shred fest, "Rude Mood," a track that appeared on SRV's first album, 1983's Texas Flood.
We have to admit that "Rude Mood," which was heavily inspired by Lightnin' Hopkins' "Hopkins' Sky Hop"—sounds like a natural boogie-woogie piano piece in this clip. Note that Jeremiah is playing SRV's guitar parts pretty much note for note, which is an achievement for any instrument.
Says Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton, “In early ’79, [country DJ] Joe Gracey made early recordings of Double Trouble while Lou Ann [Barton], Jack Newhouse and Johnny Reno were still in the band. That was blues stuff like, 'Ti Na Nee Na Nu,’ ‘Scratch My Back’ and ‘Sugarcoated Love,’ along with an early version of ‘Rude Mood.’ Those recordings were done in the tiny basement of KOKE, a country station. Gracey recorded us on a four-channel mixer with a reel-to-reel, with everything done totally live using just four microphones.”
It’s fascinating to hear the recording of “Rude Mood” from that period, because the Texas Flood version, which is much faster, is a note-perfect recreation of it. There is virtually no improvisation whatsoever. It is almost unheard of for a blues guitar player to compose something that lengthy and complicated, and perform it note-perfectly for years and years, just as Stevie did.
Since 1980, Guitar World has been the ultimate resource for guitarists. Whether you want to learn the techniques employed by your guitar heroes, read about their latest projects or simply need to know which guitar is the right one to buy, Guitar World is the place to look.
