VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings is proud to announce a Deluxe Edition release of In Session, the legendary collaboration between blues icons Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. This long sought-after live album will be available in its entirety for the first time ever on 3-LP, 2-CD, and digital formats, including hi-res audio. Arriving October 18 and available for pre-order today, the set represents both a definitive moment in blues history and a real-time snapshot of two all-time guitar masters in reverence of each other on stage.
Recorded live for television at CHCH-TV studios in Ontario, Canada, in 1983, this historic performance—supported by a world-class band featuring Tony Llorens (piano/organ), Gus Thornton (bass), and Michael Llorens (drums)—is the only known recording of King and Vaughan playing together. The Deluxe reissue includes the debut audio release of three tracks from the show, “Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Texas Flood,” and “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town.” Fans can preview the expanded collection with “Born Under a Bad Sign (Live)” available to stream or download today.
When Vaughan and King hit the stage in Ontario on December 6, 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a rising star, while Albert King was entering a new phase of his career as a mentor. The duo’s relationship began a decade earlier in Vaughan’s hometown of Austin, TX, where, according to Billboard, King was playing a show and was hesitant about a “skinny white kid” joining him onstage. Vaughan’s brother, Jimmy Vaughan, recalled the fateful event: “When Stevie was 19, we were at Antone’s and Albert King was playing. [Club owner Clifford Antone] says to Albert, ‘You’ve got to let this kid play, because he’s (amazing).’”
Continues Jimmy Vaughan, “Now Albert had heard it all, but he got Stevie up there, and Stevie commenced doing Albert King licks. There was silence at first. Everyone stood there with their mouths open. They couldn’t believe it. But Albert loved it. He put his arm around him, and from then on it was Albert and Stevie. Everybody went, ‘Whew, that was scary.’ I would never have tried that, but you’ve got to admire the audacity.”
This kicked off one of the most exciting relationships in music. The concert recording captures a striking musical dialogue between the two, with Vaughan introducing King’s classic licks and expanding them in his one-of-a-kind style. By 1983, Vaughan was on track to become as respected in the blues world as King. In the AllMusic review of the original album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that Vaughan had “become the hot blues guitarist of the year thanks to his debut Texas Flood, as well as his work on David Bowie’s hit ‘Let’s Dance.’”
The Ontario performance has since become one of the most celebrated live shows in blues history. Erlewine continued, “Vaughan may have been the new news, but King was not suffering, either. He had a world-class supporting band and was playing as well as he ever had. In other words, the stage was set for a fiery, exciting concert and that’s exactly what they delivered.”
This heralded and exceedingly rare collection is a defining statement that celebrates the prowess of these two blues giants. On In Session, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan not only redefined the art of improvisational blues but also set a new standard for live music.
