"Six Strings Down" is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

song recorded by Jimmie Vaughan in 1994. It is a tribute to his brother,

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

, who died in 1990, and the memory of other deceased guitarists. The song was written by Art Neville, Eric Kolb, Aaron Neville, Cyril Neville, Kelsey Smith, and Vaughan. It first appeared on Vaughan's album ''Strange Pleasure'', in 1994. The song was originally performed as an

acoustic blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

. The opening line, "Alpine Valley, in the middle of the night", refers to the

Alpine Valley Music Theater Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a 37,000-capacity amphitheater located on County Highway D in East Troy, Wisconsin. The seasonal venue was built in 1977 and it features a characteristic wooden roof, covering the 7,500-seat pavilion and a sprawling ...

, near East Troy, Wisconsin, where the helicopter carrying Stevie Ray Vaughan and several others crashed following a concert in 1990. The song also mentions several other deceased blues guitarists:

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

(as the "voodoo child"), Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Its refrain includes the lyric "Heaven done called another blues stringer back home". Later versions of the song have been performed as electric blues with accompaniment. Live recordings include a 1996 tribute concert to Stevie Ray Vaughan, with Jimmie Vaughan,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

, B.B. King, Robert Cray,

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from t ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

, Art Neville and Buddy Guy. Vaughan, Clapton, and others performed it at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004 and again in 2010 by Vaughan, Clapton, Robert Cray and Hubert Sumlin.

References

{{Reflist 1994 songs Blues songs Song recordings produced by Nile Rodgers Songs about musicians Commemoration songs