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Formed shortly after the death of Texas guitar hero
Stevie Ray Vaughan,
the Arc Angels may have been too good a story to be true. The quartet paired
Vaughan's outstanding rhythm section of bassist
Tommy Shannon and drummer
Chris Layton with lead-singing guitarists and Texas
Vaughan protégés
Charlie Sexton and
Doyle Bramhall II. Taking their name from the initials of the Austin Rehearsal Complex where they originally started jamming, the group released its self-titled debut album in 1992, with the thought that it would be the first of many.
Arc Angels came closer than any other album at the time to carrying on
Vaughan's incredible torch of blues, rock, and post-
Jimi Hendrix guitar pyrotechnics. Tracks like "Living in a Dream," "Good Time," "Spanish Moon," and the
Vaughan dedication "Sent by Angels," all bore the late guitar legend's influence, but without mimicry. For
Shannon (who'd also worked previously with another Texas guitar-slinger in
Johnny Winter) and
Layton, the album was a catharsis after losing their friend and bandmate; for
Sexton and
Bramhall II it proved that two lead-singing lead guitarists could suppress their egos enough to function together. Trading vocal lines during verses recalled another Texas band,
ZZ Top; former
Faces keyboardist
Ian McLagan added tasty work on piano and Hammond organ, and
the Arc Angels seemed poised for the blues/rock summit as they toured in support of their debut until late 1993. But the perhaps inevitable competition between the throaty voiced
Bramhall II and smooth-singing
Sexton would eventually surface, and even more so during extending guitar solos of one-upmanship. Worse -- especially for
Shannon and
Layton, who had seen
Vaughan nearly kill himself before getting straight -- was the increasing frequency of
Bramhall II's substance abuse. By October of 1993, this ascending band decided to concentrate its efforts elsewhere, and separately. The exception was
Shannon and
Layton, who'd created such a stylistic rhythmic impact with
Vaughan and worked so perfectly together that they were essentially a package deal. The two recorded through the 1990s on
Vaughan tribute projects and with another group that showed the late master's influence,
Storyville, while
Bramhall II went through treatment and
Sexton continued on a solo career that had begun when he was a teenager in the mid-'80s. By 1998, a clean and sober
Bramhall II started a band called the Mighty Zor, with
Shannon and
Layton as his rhythm section. When
Sexton showed up for a few gigs to jam with the trio, a series of unofficial Arc Angels reunion gigs -- mostly in Texas -- was born. Whether a second CD will ever be recorded, or if
the Arc Angels will remain one of those one-album comets like
Hendrix's Band of Gypsys, remains to be seen.
Shannon and
Layton continue to get hired together in the new millennium, while both
Bramhall II and
Sexton release solo CDs and likewise get work as session men with major artists (former
Pink Floyd leader
Roger Waters and
Bob Dylan, respectively). Regardless of whether it's followed up or not,
Arc Angels provides lasting proof that the spirit of
Vaughan lives on. ~ Bill Meredith