“They started chanting ‘Huey!’” Stevie Ray Vaughan bombed on opening night of a major tour

Stevie Ray Vaughan may now be remembered as one of the greatest blues guitarists since Eric Clapton and Howlin’ Wolf, but in his early years as a recording artist the electric guitar-slinger struggled to build an audience.

He got a little help from singer Huey Lewis.

In 1985, Huey Lewis and the News were one of the biggest acts in pop thanks to their third album, Sports, a number-one hit that spawned huge singles like “Heart and Soul,” “I Want a New Drug” and “If This Is It.” Lewis was an SRV fan and eager to bring the guitarist along for the band’s tour. He even went to battle with his management to get him on the bill, such was his belief in the Texan’s talents.

By this point, the guitarist’s stock was rising, most notably thanks to David Bowie’s shrewd recruitment of him for his 1983 album, Let’s Dance, alongside Nile Rodgers. But he was yet to become a megastar.

“Stevie Ray’s manager at the time asked for more money than they were worth,” Lewis writes in a reflective social media post. “My agent said, ‘This is ridiculous. We can't pay them this kind of money. They're not worth anything. We're just helping them by putting them on the tour. They should be paying us.’

“I said, ‘Forget about it. Just pay him. Trust me. You'll be glad you did.’”

It was a strong show of support for a guitarist who had already befriended Eric Johnson, and Lewis got his wish. In hindsight, though, Lewis may not have been glad he did. The tour began at the Zoo Amphitheatre in Oklahoma City, but despite SRV’s best efforts, the crowd offered very little in response.

“They were killing it. Then the song ended, and there was a moment of dead silence,” Lewis expands. “Then the audience started chanting, ‘Huey, Huey, Huey, Huey.’”

As Louder Sound reports, a review of the night from the local newspaper The Oklahoman claimed the crowd was “more concerned with the long lines at the beer taps.” Lewis couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and so he tried to offer some kindly words to soften the blow of a wounding opening night.

“Look, fellas, you're tremendous,” he had said. “Here's the thing: The audience is invested in us. They know our music. They play the record on the way to the venue. No matter how good you are, they're bound to think that we're going to be much, much better.

“There's no way you're going to score here. What's going to happen is, when they go home tonight, they're going to say, ‘Hey, you know what? That first band was pretty good.’”

Of course, the next few years would be kind to Stevie Ray Vaughan. It’s unlikely that Double Trouble’s tour with the News was the sole factor, but Lewis doubled down on his support by inviting the guitarist to end their set with them each night, when they’d play “Bad Is Bad” together.

“We were inseparable for the whole tour,” his post concludes.

It was also a memorable tour for News guitarist Chris Hayes, who reveled in the chance to share a tour bus with such a talented player.

“Stevie Ray Vaughan was great,” he told Vertex Effects last year (via Guitar World). “Every night, it was like a guitar lesson for me.”

Then there was one particularly heavy night on the bus.

“He kicks all the other guys in the band off the bus, and it's just me and Stevie on the bus, with a bottle of Crown Royal, and we just wrapped it down,” he said. “Of course, he could handle it. I think I was sick as a dog in the morning because it's not the safest thing to drink.”

Elsewhere, Carlos Santana has bizarrely claimed that Stevie Ray Vaughan once begged him to play his #007 Dumble amp from beyond the grave. Jeff Beck, meanwhile, compared the guitarist to Jimi Hendrix for one specific reason.

His brother, Jimmie Vaughan, has also used his brother’s virtuosity to dismiss the long-standing belief that there is a big difference between rosewood and maple fretboards.