When JIMMIE VAUGHAN and KIM WILSON teamed up to form THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS in 1974, they created a band that helped shape the soul of modern Texas blues. Vaughan’s history with that storied band has finally been chronicled in The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings 1978–1989, a comprehensive four-CD box set available Nov. 7, 2025, via The Last Music Co.
The Jimmie Vaughan Years captures Grammy-winning Vaughan’s blues journey after he cut his teeth in Austin’s late-’60s blues scene, including an early recording produced by legendary American songwriter Doc Pomus and Joel Dorn. The result is a stunning collection, not only of Vaughan’s music, but also of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, reflecting their impact on the art form. “Dirty Work Is Going On,” the Doc Pomus–produced single, is now available HERE.
“It begins with 13 super-rare unreleased cuts from sessions the T-Birds did for Doc Pomus in 1978 for the potential album that never saw daylight, until now,” says Last Music founder Malcolm Mills. “The five-hour music compilation then follows their career through all the subsequent releases they made on Takoma, Chrysalis, and Epic until Jimmie left the band to pursue his solo career in 1989 — a total of eight albums.”
The Jimmie Vaughan Years includes: The Doc Pomus Recordings 1978, The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Girls Go Wild), Things I Forgot to Do, What’s the Word?, Butt Rockin’, T-Bird Rhythm, Tuff Enuff, Hot Number, and Powerful Stuff. The box set is gorgeously packaged in the form of a fully illustrated 12-inch hardback book written and annotated by Bill Bentley, who was an eyewitness to the band’s emergence and rise to fame. His notes, combined with pages full of never-before-seen photos and images, bring to life the story of this band in their heyday.
“This is the only collection of its kind of Vaughan’s years in The Fabulous Thunderbirds and begins with an album that never saw a release,” Bentley says. “In the late 1970s, celebrated songwriter Doc Pomus heard about the Austin band and brought them to New York to record. Pomus felt something important was there in their music and wanted to share it with the world. Noted producer Joel Dorn signed on to participate and they recorded a full album. Unfortunately, it was an incredible set of songs that never saw the light of day.”
The band has seen many changes in personnel over the years since its formation in Austin, Texas. Yet the impact they made at the outset — fronted by the electrifying duo of Vaughan and Wilson — set the stage for enduring success, both for the T-Birds and Vaughan, over the last five decades.
Blues guitarists have been the foundation of American music for more than a hundred years, dating back to early acoustic musicians performing in the Deep South. The evolution of the blues has been one of the truly captivating legacies of popular music in America, from early jazz to even country and, to everlasting success, rock ’n’ roll. Vaughan helped build on that legacy by crafting a career from the singular sound that captivated him as a young Texan.
“On this new collection, the Doc Pomus album will be given flight,” Bentley writes. “It shows how sometimes the best gets lost, but with belief and, yes, good luck, the wrongs get righted. This is an incredible look at what The Fabulous Thunderbirds created at their very beginning, and how it was the kind of album meant to be heard, over 46 years later. In those earliest grooves of one of America’s great bands is the passion and power of what those who believe in the blues are able to create and finally fulfill. It’s the full circle of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and it ain’t nothin’ but fine, fine, fine.”
The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings 1978–1989 will be released on Nov. 7, 2025. Vaughan is currently touring North America with Bonnie Raitt and performing solo [dates HERE]. Wilson and the T-Birds are performing on these dates HERE.
