Bob Seger Wrote His Song 'Hey Gypsy' as a Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan
Jeff Giles Published: August 28, 2015
While we mourn Stevie Ray Vaughan during the days surrounding the 25th anniversary of his death, it's worth taking a minute to revisit Bob Seger's Ride Out record, which contains a tribute to Vaughan.
We're talking specifically about the album's second track, "Hey Gypsy," which — as Seger explains in the behind-the-scenes video you can watch above — was inspired by his immense respect for Vaughan's musical gifts. "I wrote kind of as a tribute to Stevie, who I've always been a huge fan of. I remember the last time I saw [him]; it was at an Eric Clapton concert. He traded solos with Eric on 'Before You Accuse Me,' and they did it for, like, 15 minutes. It was probably my favorite guitar-hero moment of all time."
In a separate interview with the Detroit Free Press, Seger admitted that the song's heavy Vaughan vibe was decidedly deliberate. "I called my Nashville friends and said, 'This has got to sound like Stevie Ray.' The bass player said he knew the organist who played with [Vaughan] late in his career, Reese Wynans. And the guitarist I had at the time, Kenny Greenberg, said, 'I know how to get that sound.' He brought in a real old amp and a great Stratocaster and started playing, and I said, 'Oh my God, it sounds exactly like him!'"
In the end, Seger concluded, "I wanted to do something to honor his memory and how much he meant to me. I think I captured the essence of it."
Listen to Bob Seger's 'Hey Gypsy'
See Bob Seger and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the '70s
Filed Under: Bob Seger, Stevie Ray Vaughan
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