It hurts so good

ST. PETERSBURG -- Like many great blues guitarists, Jimmie Vaughan stops playing when he sings. Not for one second, however, does Vaughan neglect to express what he's feeling.

Like the legendary B.B. King, Vaughan, 52, may push his guitar aside to belt out his woe in words, but he says as much with the neck of his guitar, and did so as the headliner of the first night of the Tampa Bay Blues Festival's three nights.

The Grammy award-winning blues rocker from Austin, Texas, walked onstage at Vinoy Park on Friday sporting his trademark slicked-back 'do and a sleek houndstooth short-sleeved shirt. Vaughan looks like a cool 1950s hood, the sensitive kind of troublemaker who has a paperback copy of On the Road in his pocket.

Fans of his former band, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, may have missed the old tunes, but Vaughan's solo material bristles and he looks infused when he plays it. On the rocker Motor Head Baby, Vaughan jabbed at his strings, making noises that sounded both like a crackling fire and an irate cat.

Vaughan's voice -- well, what do you say about a guy who sounds like an even more nasally Randy Newman? -- may lack the grit blues lovers relish, but it gets the job done. Anyway, Vaughan's guitar is what entices and it's tough to find a better six-slinger, even more so now that little brother Stevie Ray Vaughan is no longer among us.

Vaughan proved he's not just a footstomper. A downtempo instrumental showcased what the blues is all about: catharsis. An audience lets the performer express the pain. Why? So we don't have to. Vaughan's fingers explored the neck of his guitar. The sound was something like aural barbed wire. His grimaces -- those scowls as he moved his fingers, hinted that the notes came from such a prickly place in his heart.

Other highlights included a marvelous Like a King, in which two male soul singers joined Vaughan's band, adding bass-heavy harmonies, hand claps and side-to-side shimmies to play up the tune's funk. Robbin' Me Blind sizzled with the sort of I'm-a-damned-fool abandon that makes for the most fun blues. Vaughan sang with both awe and scorn of the "smooth cat burglar" lady who stole his love.

Soul-blues singer Denise LaSalle preceded Vaughan, delighting the crowd with a saucy set of tunes about the men that cheated her in love or in the bedroom. Fans also enjoyed early sets by guitarists Jimmy Thackery and Chris Beard, who strolled through the crowd as he played.

-- To contact Gina Vivinetto email gina@sptimes.com .

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