Arc Angels

Formed shortly after the death of Texas guitar hero <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Stevie Ray Vaughan</a>, the Arc Angels may have been too good a story to be true. The quartet paired <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a>'s outstanding rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton with lead-singing guitarists and Texas <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a> protégés <a href="spotify:artist:132XHXfIbAJi5jQKmH986p">Charlie Sexton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Doyle Bramhall II</a>. 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 <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a>'s incredible torch of blues, rock, and post-<a href="spotify:artist:776Uo845nYHJpNaStv1Ds4">Jimi Hendrix</a> guitar pyrotechnics. Tracks like "Living in a Dream," "Good Time," "Spanish Moon," and the <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:2ODUxmFxJSyvGiimNhMHbO">Johnny Winter</a>) and Layton, the album was a catharsis after losing their friend and bandmate; for <a href="spotify:artist:132XHXfIbAJi5jQKmH986p">Sexton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Bramhall II</a> 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, <a href="spotify:artist:2AM4ilv6UzW0uMRuqKtDgN">ZZ Top</a>; former <a href="spotify:artist:3v4feUQnU3VEUqFrjmtekL">Faces</a> keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:5HVDf6EAbKdW7Md5V3VL8I">Ian McLagan</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Bramhall II</a> and smooth-singing <a href="spotify:artist:132XHXfIbAJi5jQKmH986p">Sexton</a> would eventually surface, and even more so during extending guitar solos of one-upmanship. Worse -- especially for Shannon and Layton, who had seen <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a> nearly kill himself before getting straight -- was the increasing frequency of <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Bramhall II</a>'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 <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a> and worked so perfectly together that they were essentially a package deal. The two recorded through the 1990s on <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a> tribute projects and with another group that showed the late master's influence, <a href="spotify:artist:216VxWS6wf0PCM6vNV0XJf">Storyville</a>, while <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Bramhall II</a> went through treatment and <a href="spotify:artist:132XHXfIbAJi5jQKmH986p">Sexton</a> continued on a solo career that had begun when he was a teenager in the mid-'80s. By 1998, a clean and sober <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Bramhall II</a> started a band called the Mighty Zor, with Shannon and Layton as his rhythm section. When <a href="spotify:artist:132XHXfIbAJi5jQKmH986p">Sexton</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:776Uo845nYHJpNaStv1Ds4">Hendrix</a>'s Band of Gypsys, remains to be seen. Shannon and Layton continue to get hired together in the new millennium, while both <a href="spotify:artist:7Chzu4eSaqDHFXFvjaycAV">Bramhall II</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:132XHXfIbAJi5jQKmH986p">Sexton</a> release solo CDs and likewise get work as session men with major artists (former <a href="spotify:artist:0k17h0D3J5VfsdmQ1iZtE9">Pink Floyd</a> leader <a href="spotify:artist:40DqL6Tv84cKT2pH2NMs9r">Roger Waters</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:74ASZWbe4lXaubB36ztrGX">Bob Dylan</a>, respectively). Regardless of whether it's followed up or not, Arc Angels provides lasting proof that the spirit of <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Vaughan</a> lives on. ~ Bill Meredith, Rovi