SRV's "Couldn't Stand the Weather" get s a BOS from me: I was so into this guy -- he made the blues cool again for me... his amazing guitarosity (plus his pop music "cred" vis a vis David Bowie) put him in high rotation. Saw him perform twice: two of my top concert experiences.
Was he getting radio play where you were, while he was alive? In NYC I was unaware of him until he died, then the floodgates opened.
Yes, up in Rochester, NY: 96.5 WCMF played him a lot. I also caught him on PBS's Austin City Limits in the summer of 85, perhaps? When I heard he was going to open for Dire Straits later that summer in Toronto, I got tix and we drove up to see him. He blew Dire Straits away on pure performance. (During DS's set, the lights apparently weren't cooperating, and Mark Knopfler apologized, saying it's too bad, b/c they're really cool, etc..) I paid my Money for Nothing!
I also saw SRV on one of the NYC Hudson Piers in the Spring of '89. By then he had dried out and I swear he wasn't as good on stage.
RIP Stevie!