Biography
Shortly after Texas guitar icon Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death, the Arc Angels assembled as a quartet that united his former rhythm section—bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton—with two lead-singing guitarists who had been Vaughan protégés in Texas, Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II. Their name came from the Austin Rehearsal Complex, the rehearsal space where the musicians first convened. In 1992 the group issued its self-titled debut album, expecting the record to launch an extended catalog.
No other release of the era preserved Vaughan’s fusion of blues, rock, and post-Jimi Hendrix guitar intensity more faithfully. Cuts such as “Living in a Dream,” “Good Time,” “Spanish Moon,” and the Vaughan tribute “Sent by Angels” displayed his unmistakable imprint without descending into imitation. For Shannon—who had previously accompanied another Texas guitarist, Johnny Winter—and Layton, the sessions offered emotional release after the loss of their longtime friend and bandmate. For Sexton and Bramhall II the project showed that two lead vocalists who also played lead guitar could set ego aside and cooperate.
Alternating vocal lines during verses echoed the approach of fellow Texans ZZ Top. Former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan supplied piano and Hammond organ parts, and the Arc Angels appeared headed for the forefront of blues-rock while touring behind the album into late 1993. Yet rivalry between throaty-voiced Bramhall II and smooth-singing Sexton surfaced, most visibly in extended, competitive guitar solos. Even more troubling to Shannon and Layton—who had watched Vaughan nearly destroy himself before achieving sobriety—was Bramhall II’s mounting substance abuse. In October 1993 the band therefore chose to disband and pursue separate paths.
Shannon and Layton, however, remained a unit because of the singular rhythmic identity they had forged with Vaughan. Through the 1990s they appeared on numerous Vaughan tribute projects and recorded with Storyville, another group clearly shaped by the late guitarist’s style. Bramhall II entered treatment, while Sexton resumed the solo career he had begun as a teenager in the mid-1980s. By 1998 a sober Bramhall II launched the Mighty Zor, again using Shannon and Layton as his rhythm section. When Sexton sat in on occasional gigs, a string of unofficial Arc Angels reunion performances, mostly in Texas, followed. Whether a second album will ever appear or whether the Arc Angels will remain a one-record comet comparable to Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys is still unknown.
In the new millennium Shannon and Layton continue to be hired as a team. Bramhall II and Sexton each issue solo albums and work as session players for major artists—Bramhall II with former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters and Sexton with Bob Dylan. The original Arc Angels album nevertheless stands as lasting testimony that Vaughan’s spirit endures.
No other release of the era preserved Vaughan’s fusion of blues, rock, and post-Jimi Hendrix guitar intensity more faithfully. Cuts such as “Living in a Dream,” “Good Time,” “Spanish Moon,” and the Vaughan tribute “Sent by Angels” displayed his unmistakable imprint without descending into imitation. For Shannon—who had previously accompanied another Texas guitarist, Johnny Winter—and Layton, the sessions offered emotional release after the loss of their longtime friend and bandmate. For Sexton and Bramhall II the project showed that two lead vocalists who also played lead guitar could set ego aside and cooperate.
Alternating vocal lines during verses echoed the approach of fellow Texans ZZ Top. Former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan supplied piano and Hammond organ parts, and the Arc Angels appeared headed for the forefront of blues-rock while touring behind the album into late 1993. Yet rivalry between throaty-voiced Bramhall II and smooth-singing Sexton surfaced, most visibly in extended, competitive guitar solos. Even more troubling to Shannon and Layton—who had watched Vaughan nearly destroy himself before achieving sobriety—was Bramhall II’s mounting substance abuse. In October 1993 the band therefore chose to disband and pursue separate paths.
Shannon and Layton, however, remained a unit because of the singular rhythmic identity they had forged with Vaughan. Through the 1990s they appeared on numerous Vaughan tribute projects and recorded with Storyville, another group clearly shaped by the late guitarist’s style. Bramhall II entered treatment, while Sexton resumed the solo career he had begun as a teenager in the mid-1980s. By 1998 a sober Bramhall II launched the Mighty Zor, again using Shannon and Layton as his rhythm section. When Sexton sat in on occasional gigs, a string of unofficial Arc Angels reunion performances, mostly in Texas, followed. Whether a second album will ever appear or whether the Arc Angels will remain a one-record comet comparable to Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys is still unknown.
In the new millennium Shannon and Layton continue to be hired as a team. Bramhall II and Sexton each issue solo albums and work as session players for major artists—Bramhall II with former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters and Sexton with Bob Dylan. The original Arc Angels album nevertheless stands as lasting testimony that Vaughan’s spirit endures.
Albums
