21. Stevie Ray Vaughan (10/3/54-8/27/90) "Life By The Drop" for my new gallery
"Telling Stories from the Grave" and for the November Song Titles/One Artist Challenge.
Once again dabbling with digital painting with more of a Van Gogh heavenly look.

"Hello there, my old friend
Not so long ago it was til the end
We played outside in the pouring rain
On our way up the road we started over again

You're living our dream oh you on top
my mind is aching,' Lord it won't stop
That's how it happens living life by the drop"

"Life by the Drop" was a song about Stevie's friendship with Doyal Bramhall (who
wrote this song for Stevie Ray). I am so moved each time I hear it thinking that
Stevie had finally gotten his life together and was at peace. He was at such a
fresh starting point only to have his life and career swiped away from him because
he decided to take the lone empty seat left on a helicopter that night in August 1990.

According to a witness, there was haze and fog with patches of low clouds. Despite
the conditions, the pilots were instructed to fly over a 1000-foot ski hill. Vaughan,
along with three members of Eric Clapton's entourage (agent Bobby Brooks, bodyguard
Nigel Browne, and assistant tour manager Colin Smythe), boarded the third of the four
helicopters to Meigs Field. At about 12:50 am the helicopter departed from an ele-
vation of about 850 feet, veered to the left and crashed into the hill. All on board,
including the pilot, Jeff Brown, were killed instantly.

While it is a hard selection for me (with so many favorites on my all time list from
SRV), I personally think this is Stevie's best vocal. "Life by the Drop" is carried
more by the emotion in his voice than his brilliant guitar. There is just something
about how pure his vocals are and how perfectly the acoustic guitar is adding just
what is needed to complete this great track.