Bill Crawford and Joe Nick Patoski have been involved in writing and the music industry for most of their adult lives. From 1990 to 1993, they combined their literary talents and connections with the music industry insiders to write an unauthorized biography of blues guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990), who died in a helicopter accident near East Troy, Wisconsin. In spring 1993, Little, Brown and Co. published Crawford and Patoski's Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire . Michael Pietsch provided editorial assistance.
Born in New York City in 1955, Bill Crawford attended Andover and Harvard, where he majored in comparative religion. He moved to Texas after graduation and became involved in radio. He worked as a disc jockey at a music station in Midland and later earned a masters degree in business administration at the University of Texas at Austin. A freelance writer and radio and television producer since 1981, Crawford has produced segments for Music Television and the nationally syndicated public affairs program, Asian Communique. He was an associate editor of Third Coast magazine, and has written on media and business for Texas Business, Texas Monthly, and other publications. He was co-author of the book, Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves, published by Texas Monthly Press in 1987.
Joe Nick Patoski moved with his family to Fort Worth in 1953, at the age of two. He attended the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Texas at Austin, where he began his career as a writer and consultant in the music business in 1972. Starting as a columnist with the Daily Texan, the newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin, Patoski soon earned a reputation as one of the most respected critics of pop culture in the Southwest. He worked as a stringer for Rolling Stone from 1974 to 1980, and as contributing editor for Texas Monthly from 1975 to 1980. During the early 1980s, Patoski was the manager and executive producer for several top Texas rock and roll bands, and toured the United States, Europe, and South America. In 1985, Patoski was named an associate editor at Texas Monthly . In October 1990, he wrote an article for Texas Monthly commemorating Stevie Ray Vaughan. Patoski has written on various other topics, covering the entire range of Texas cultures. His work has also appeared in Mother Jones, Village Voice, and Conde Nast Traveler, as well as numerous other publications.
From the guide to the Bill Crawford and Joe Nick Patoski Stevie Ray Vaughan Biography Papers Collection 028., 1964- 1995 (Bulk: 1990-1993), (Southwestern Writers Collection, Special Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos)
