Do You Get the Blues?

1	Dirty Girl 5:02
2	Out of the Shadows 3:50
3	The Deep End 4:53
4	Power of Love 4:00
5	Without You 6:22
6	Let Me In 4:46
7	Don't Let the Sun Set 6:02
8	Robbin' Me Blind 4:58
9	Slow Dance Blues 6:27
10	In the Middle of the Night 3:08
11	Planet Bongo 5:17

Barnes & Noble

As if cosmically counterbalancing all the fired-up energy Stevie Ray Vaughan pumped into his guitar, older brother Jimmie Vaughan’s playing is the essence of easy livin’ on Do You Get the Blues. But that doesn’t mean the set lacks passion. On the contrary, Vaughan pours a lot into a minimum of notes. On the fast-driving “Let Me In” his solo is raw and lean against the churning rhythm section of Jose Galeano’s percussion and George Rains’s drums. “Don’t Let the Sun Set” is jazzy in a George Benson way without sounding slick, and “Without You” is a low-key, sexy come-on to rekindle a relationship rather than a lament about losing love. Vaughan comes out of the Texas blues of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, and his playing reflects the subtle but not contrived style of players like Johnny Guitar Watson and Freddy King. In fact Vaughan’s B-3 organ player, Bill Willis, was a session player during that era for King Records. His light-fingered fills are tasty, while his sustained chords on the instrumental “Dirty Girl” have the meaty feel of Bill Doggett. To complement his sizzling slide guitar on “The Deep End” Vaughan brought in harp player James Cotton, but the really important studio guest is vocalist Lou Ann Barton, a singular Texas R&B singer who has been away from the recording medium for far too long. Her baby-doll belting is featured on Watson’s “In the Middle of the Night” (along with Stevie Ray’s Double Trouble rhythm section of Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton); she growls and shouts on “Power of Love,” and sings backup on “Out of the Shadows.” Do You Get the Blues is the third solo release for Vaughan, whose name became familiar to blues fans through the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and it’s his most honest and solid recording to date. Roberta Penn

All Music Guide

If anyone deserves a crack at being "the next Stevie Ray Vaughan", it's his older brother Jimmie. Thankfully, he's not concerned with aping his sibling's gruff, guitar-heavy approach, as he's proved through his previous two solo albums. It's not that he doesn't have the chops to be an often spellbinding guitarist in his own right; his work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds proved that he could tear off hot licks with the best of them. But on his third solo album, Jimmie pulls even further away from his brother's sound, whipping up a scrumptious concoction of jazzy, often funky R&B and blues that's every bit as enticing in its own way as Stevie Ray's more bombastic approach was. Recorded in both Memphis and Texas and prominently featuring the amazing Bill Willis on Hammond B-3 (who doubles on bass pedals -- leaving this as one of the few blues albums without an official bassist), Jimmie's more subtle approach leaves lots of spaces to nail a groove that gets deeper as the album progresses. Guests like James Cotton on harp and longtime associate singer Lou Ann Barton (who just about steals the show on the songs where she duets with Vaughan) inject extra spice, but the singer/guitarist has crafted a compelling slice of contemporary blues that blends traditional elements in a distinctive way. His own soloing stings in a less abrasive, more organic fashion, and his honest, lived-in vocals, while not technically accomplished, fit the tunes perfectly. Rootsy yet polished tracks like the R&B swamp of "Without You" and the Texas soul of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "In the Middle of the Night" (featuring Stevie Ray's Double Trouble rhythm section) crackle with taut energy and low-down soul. By forging an individual musical style, Jimmie Vaughan not only avoids all Stevie Ray comparisons, but has produced a remarkable album that truly sounds like no one else. Hal Horowitz