Posted by It occurred to me that when I actually sat and thought about it, I believe the only concert my mom and I ever attended together was to see Stevie Ray Vaughan! He played at The Lloyd Noble Center at Oklahoma University in Norman, Oklahoma in support of his latest release, Soul to Soul. Im not sure if it was due to ticket sales or part of the contract, but it was the first time I had seen Lloyd Noble set in a “Theater Style” where the arena was split in half. We scored 4th row tickets sitting in front of Tommy Shannon although as soon as Stevie hit the stage, everyone stood for the entire show!
The memories are vague, but I recall my mom stating how she hated when Stevie wore the full-length Native headdress as he strolled out onto the stage wearing one. He began his intro for Voodoo Chile, which was the beginning of his extended encore set, when he walked off the stage. I assumed he had technical difficulties as we stood there confused as to what was going on when suddenly the house lights came back on. I later learned that some woman rushed the stage, ran up to Stevie and began to hug him, to which he “freaked out” and couldnt continue. That was the only time I had the opportunity to see SRV perform before his untimely demise.
But Ill be honest, I resonate with my mom’s feelings about “cultural appropriation”. Although Stevie fully supported the Native Culture, it didn’t fully give him the right to wear a sacred American Indian War Bonnet, and thats what my mom disliked. Which caused a bit of a worrisome predicament when I had the opportunity to see Texas Flood – The Premier Tribute to SRV and the Blues at The Suffolk in Riverhead, NY.
Being an obvious long-time fan of SRV, I expected to be a bit disappointed. Perhaps the guitar playing would be off or maybe I felt Tommy Katona would try to showboat a bit too much to over-compensate. I also felt that even if the guitar slinging was comparable to SRV, I didnt expect the singing to resemble Stevies’ nasally yet unmistakable vocals.
Everything was spot on!
Texas Flood comprises Tommy Katona as SRV featuring his signature SRV Fender Strat replica and matching regalia, Travis Montoya filling in for Chris “Whipper” Layton and Steve Buckner on bass a-la Tommy Shannon. Setting the tone for the night, they began the first set with Say What! and right into Scuttle Buttin’. From there it was in your face Stevie, removing any doubt from a nearly full capacity crowd!
The Triple Threat, not to be confused as Stevie Ray and Double Trouble, performed for over two hours including a 15 minute intermission. Just as Stevie did, Tommy “owned” each and every song! I loved the fact that they didnt play SRV’s music note for note. Each song was played with passion, fervor and fire, effortlessly. Complete with playing behind his neck and back and even flinging his axe, striking the strings to and fro, Tommy reincarnated Stevie as I would have never imagined. And after two hours I could finally exhale to see that Tommy didn’t don the Native headdress!
For more information on merch and tour info, check out their website: https://www.texasflood.net/ or find them on FB!
Also visit https://www.thesuffolk.org/ for their premier, fall line up!
Here are a few highlights from their performance:
Long Island Sounds 