“I could barely play his guitar. He had 12s on the top. It was like a G string. I was like, ‘How do you do that?’”: Huey Lewis and the News' Chris Hayes looks back on his friendship with Stevie Ray Vaughan – and the blues great's notorious guitar setup

Left-Black and white image of Chris Hayes playing guitar on stage; Right-Stevie Ray Vaughan is performing at the Community Center in Sacramento, CA on July 2. 1987.

As the former lead guitarist of Huey Lewis and the News – a bonafide hit machine back in the ’80s and ’90s – Chris Hayes has his fair share of anecdotes from the group's heyday – like writing and recording Workin’ for a Livin’, I Want a New Drug and the Oscar-nominated The Power of Love, and, of course, life on the road. And touring meant rubbing shoulders with a gamut of musicians – including Stevie Ray Vaughan, who happened to be the band's opening act in 1984.

“Stevie Ray Vaughan was great, [who] we toured with for like, a year. Every night, it was like a guitar lesson for me,” he tells Vertex Effects.