A guitarist on the radio made Eric Clapton pull over.
Clapton shared a part from one of his old interviews on his Instagram. He said the following about Stevie Ray Vaughan in the video, “And I remember thinking, ‘I have to find out before the day is over who that guitar player is.'”
He continued, “And that doesn’t happen to me very often, that I get that way about listening to music. I mean, about three or four times in my life I’ve felt that way in a car listening to the radio, where I’ve stopped the car, pulled over, and listened.”
“And thought, ‘I’ve got to find out before the end of the day.’ Not, you know, sooner or later, but I have to know now,” the rocker further shared.
“Eric discussing the guitar playing of Stevie Ray Vaughan during a past interview from ‘A Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan,’ and his admiration for Vaughan as a musician,” Clapton also captioned his post.
Clapton almost boarded the helicopter that crashed on August 27, 1990, killing blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and three of Clapton’s crew members. Vaughan performed a show before the tragedy. Clapton said the loss affected him deeply, knowing he could have been on that flight. Clapton and his team decided to continue the tour to honor Vaughan.
Eric previously told Rolling Stone about Vaughan’s death, “The worst thing for me was that Stevie Ray had been sober for three years and was at his peak. When he played that night, he had all of us standing mere with our jaws dropped. I mean, Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan, and Buddy Guy were just watching in awe. There was no one better than him on this planet. Really unbelievable.”
He also shared what he felt after the incident, “I think I’ve moved on a bit since then. I try to look on every day now as being a bonus, really. And I try to make the most of it. I don’t think I’m negative like that anymore. So I seem to have come full circle. I mean, the death of my son, the death of Stevie Ray, taught me that life is very fragile and that if you are given another twenty-four hours, it’s a blessing. That’s the best way to look at it.”
Vaughan was 35 when he passed away in the helicopter crash. Pilot Jeff Brown, agent Bobby Brooks, bodyguard Nigel Browne, and tour manager Colin Smythe also died.
