01	Boot Hill						02:15
	02	The Sky Is Crying						04:38
	03	Empty Arms						03:30
	04	Little Wing						06:50
	05	Wham						02:26
	06	May I Have A Talk With You						05:50
	07	Close To You						03:13
	08	Chitlins Con Carne						03:59
	09	So Exited						03:32
	10	Life By The Drop						02:28
	11	Boilermaker						05:13
	12	Shake 'N Bake						02:51

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE The Sky Is Crying (2009 Japanese exclusive limited edition 12-track digitally remastered CD album, featuring 2 Bonus Recordings including 'Boilermaker' & 'Shake 'N Bake', presented in mini LP-style card picture sleeve complete with picture booklet containing Japanese & English text lyrics and sleevenotes + obi strip)



The posthumously assembled ten-track outtakes collection The Sky Is Crying actually proves to be one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's most consistent albums, rivaling In Step as the best outside of the Greatest Hits collection. These songs were recorded in sessions spanning from 1984's Couldn't Stand the Weather to 1989's In Step and were left off of the LPs for whatever reason (or, in the case of Soul to Soul's "Empty Arms," a different version was used). What makes the record work is its eclectic diversity -- Vaughan plays slide guitar on "Boot Hill" and acoustic on "Life by the Drop"; he smokes on the slow blues of "May I Have a Talk With You" and the title track just as much as on the up-tempo Lonnie Mack cover, "Wham"; and he shows the jazzy side of his playing on Hendrix's "Little Wing" and Kenny Burrell's "Chitlins Con Carne." But it's not just musical diversity that makes the record work, it's also Vaughan's emotional range. From the morbidly dark "Boot Hill" to the lilting "Little Wing" to the exuberant tributes to his influences -- Lonnie Mack on "Wham" and Albert King on "The Sky Is Crying" -- Vaughan makes the material resonate, and in light of his death, "The Sky Is Crying" and the touching survivor-story ballad "Life by the Drop" are two of the most moving moments in Vaughan's oeuvre.


The Sky Is Crying is an electric blues album containing studio performances spanning most of the career of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Released about one year after Vaughan's death in 1990, the album features ten tracks originally recorded between 1984 and 1989.

The Sky Is Crying illustrates many of Vaughan's musical influences, including songs in the style of traditional Delta blues, Chicago blues, jump blues, jazz blues, and Jimi Hendrix. The album's tone alternates primarily between uptempo pieces and gritty, slow blues. The album includes a Grammy-winning extended instrumental cover version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing"; "Chitlins con Carne", a jazz instrumental; and, "Life by the Drop", a song written by Vaughan's friend Doyle Bramhall and played on acoustic guitar. This song is not about Vaughan's struggle with drug abuse, as many think, but actually about Vaughan's friendship with Doyle Bramhall from Bramhall's perspective.

Track listing

"Boot Hill" (Writer Unknown) – 2:15
"The Sky Is Crying" (Elmore James, Morris Levy, Clarence Lewis) – 4:36
"Empty Arms" (Stevie Ray Vaughan) – 3:29
"Little Wing" (Jimi Hendrix) – 6:49
"Wham" (Lonnie Mack) – 2:25
"May I Have a Talk with You" (Howlin' Wolf) – 5:49
"Close to You" (Willie Dixon) – 3:10
"Chitlins con Carne" (Kenny Burrell) – 3:57
"So Excited" (Vaughan) – 3:30
"Life by the Drop" (Doyle Bramhall, Barbara Logan) – 2:28

Personnel

Stevie Ray Vaughan – guitars, vocals
Chris Layton – drums
Tommy Shannon – bass guitar
Reese Wynans – keyboards

Production

Track 1 produced by Jim Gaines and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Recorded at Kiva Studios, Memphis, TN, 2/89–4/89
Engineered by Jim Gaines and Richard Mullen
Assistant engineers – Evan Rush, Danny Jones

Tracks 2, 6, 8, and 9 produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble and Richard Mullen
Recorded at The Dallas Sound Lab, Dallas, TX, 3/85–5/85
Engineered by Richard Mullen
Assistant engineer – Ron Cote

Tracks 3–5 and 7 produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Richard Mullen, and Jim Capfer
Recorded at The Power Station, NY, 1/84–2/84
Engineered by Richard Mullen
Assistant engineer – Rob Eaton

Track 10 produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jim Gaines
Recorded at Sound Castle Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 4/89–5/89

Compilation and additional production – Jimmie Vaughan
Mixed and engineered by Richard Mullen
Assistant engineer – Jeff Powell
Production coordination – Mark Proct, Mark Rutledge, Roger Klein
Mastered by Bob Ludwig

Art direction – Arnold Levine/Mark Burdett
Photography – William Snyder
Inside photo – Stephanie Chernakowski
Band photo – Alan Messer