For many years now it has been my great pleasure to work with Jimmie Vaughan releasing his records worldwide.  I’ve said it before but in my opinion, Jimmie is one of the few remaining blues guitarists on the planet who always finds the ideal material to for his unique interpretation of the blues…and always with the right guys.  It’s been that way from the start.  That’s because he cut his teeth in Austin through the late 60s in local blues bands until teaming up with Kim Wilson in 1976 to form The Fabulous Thunderbirds.  And that’s what this is about.

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The Fabulous Thunderbirds regular shows at Antone’s in Austin provided the band with a golden opportunity to accompany some of the visiting bluesmen that owner Clifford Antone loved to have at the club.  It was an incredible college-like experience for the guys to share the stage with the likes of Muddy Waters and they didn’t waste it.  They were soon recognized locally as the best in the game.

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Believe it or not, at that time, this kind of blues played by black or white people wasn’t generally making onto records in a world still dominated by the major labels.  It didn’t stop the T-birds coming to the attention of songwriter/producer Doc Pomus who got them in the studio in New York in 1978 with Roomful of Blues to see what might happen.  The recordings are fine examples of the band in its adolescence but Doc got nowhere shopping them to the record companies of the day.  Some flood damaged tapes of the sessions were recovered in 2018 when I was scouring Jimmie’s archives while we were working on the Jimmie Vaughan Story box set.  They have been expertly restored and you’re in for a treat when you hear them.

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In 1979, producer Denny Bruce signed the band to his Takoma Records label and got them into the studio for what would be the first four album releases (some via Chrysalis).  The T-birds became favourites of British acts, Rockpile, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, regularly opening shows for them and other big acts in the USA and Europe and gaining new fans.  They ultimately got dropped by the record label for reasons best known to the executives of the day and it was four years before Epic Records picked them up.  Jimmie played guitar on the first three Epic albums and then left the band in 1989 to pursue a career with his younger brother Stevie Ray Vaughan as The Vaughan Brothers.

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What happened next to The Fabulous Thunderbirds is another success story in itself with Kim Wilson still leading them on tour to this day.  Following Stevie Ray’s tragic death in 1990, Jimmie managed to come through the grief and emerged as an artist in his own right with his first solo album in 1994.  He hasn’t stopped since.

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Following some legal wrangling, the rights to those early (pre-Epic) albums and some other recordings reverted to Denny Bruce and his colleagues at Benchmark Recordings Inc., where they were released on CD and digital formats only until the CDs were taken out of circulation.

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These records need to be heard.  Forever.

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I was talking to Jimmie on the phone one day in 2024 and he told me that the people who owned Benchmark recordings wanted to retire and sell the Fabulous Thunderbirds recordings.  I contacted the sellers, made an offer which was accepted and on March 31st, 2025, The Last Music Company completed the purchase of the rights to all the masters which included the albums that were originally released as The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Girls Go Wild); What’s The Word?; Butt Rockin’ and T-Bird Rhythm.

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Now in 2025, having additionally licensed the first three Epic albums for the project, I’ve taking the opportunity to assemble an exclusive anthology with an illustrated book which includes all the studio recordings intended for commercial release between 1978 and 1989 when the band included Jimmie Vaughan.  It begins with thirteen super-rare unreleased cuts from those sessions they did for Doc Pomus in 1978 for the potential album that never saw daylight.  The five hour music compilation then follows their career through all the subsequent releases they made on Takoma, Chrysalis and Epic until Jimmie left the band to pursue his solo career in 1989, - a total of eight albums: The Doc Pomus Sessions 1978; The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Girls Go Wild); What’s The Word?; Butt Rockin’; T-Bird Rhythm; Tuff Enuff; Hot Number; Powerful Stuff.

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The package is in the form of a 12” hardback, fully illustrated book with four discs containing all the recordings in chronological order and features a great collection of rare photos with a history of the band written by Bill Bentley.  

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All eight albums are being released on 12” blue vinyl throughout 2026.

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AT LAST. The Fabulous Thunderbirds.  The Jimmie Vaughan Years.  Complete studio recordings 1978 - 1989

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Is that Tuff Enuff for ya? ~ Malcolm Mills

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Photo: Keith Ferguson, Kim Wilson, Mike Buck and Jimmie Vaughan, by Tracy Hart.