TEXAS BLUES MAN (LIMITED EDITION FOREST GREEN VINYL)

Sam "Lightning" Hopkins (!912-1982) was raised in east Texas and performed mainly in the Houston area during most of his career. He was known to play in neighborhood taverns for a little cash. He recorded some sides in Houston in the 1940s and 50s  1946-1951 , and was finally tracked down by Sam Charters and Chris Strachwitz in 1959. It was the former who convinced Hopkins to go to New York City to produce a studio recording, and from there he toured some in the United States and Europe. His playing style in recording studios and on tour did not have the flavor of the taverns with the neighborhood audience interaction (something that can be said for most musicians starting out in local clubs), but he has a smooth, soft vocal style compared to the shouting style of some other early bluesmen. This CD represents recordings he made in the 1960s. Many are the slower Texas country blues, as opposed to the jazzy modern blues many performers had adopted in the 60s. The tracks on the CD were recorded in Houston, Texas, and Berkeley, California, and are from previously released Arhoolie recordings. All songs have Lightning Hopkins, vocal and guitar. Total playing time is over an hour. They include:1. Once was a Gambler (1961, in Berkeley) with Geno Landry (bass) and Victor Leonard (drums).2. Meet You At The Chicken Shack (1962, in Houston) with Spider Kilpatrick (drums) is a jazzier, boogie style with considerable instrumental.3. Bald Headed Woman (1961, in Berkeley) with Geno Landry (bass) and Victor Leonard (drums).tracks 4 to 9 were recorded in Houston in 1967.4. Tom Moore Blues (Tom Moore was the owner of a large plantation).5. Watch My Fingers (jazzier and mainly instrumental).6. Love Like A Hydrant7. Slavery Time8. I Would If I Could (another track that is somewhat jazzier).9. Bud Russell Blues (Bud Russell was chief transfer agent for the Texas State Prison System).tracks 10 to 13 were recorded in Houston in 1965 and have Harold "Frenchy" Joseph on drums.10. Come on Baby (a jazzier, boogie track with large amounts of instrumental).11. Money Taker12. Mama's Fight (another jazzier track).13. My Woman14. Send My Child Home To Me (solo, 1969 in Berkeley)tracks 15 and 16 were recorded in 1969 in Berkeley, and include Francis Clay on drums and Geno Scaggs on bass.15. Have You Ever Loved A Woman16. Black And EvilFor other CDs featuring Lightnin' Hopkins see  Lightnin Hopkins , Double Blues , etc.

After many years of playing blues--more than 50 as a street singer, 20+ as a recording artist--Lightning had settled into a routine that repeats itself on most of his later recordings like this one. It's pleasant, the vocals are okay, the guitar playing steady, but compared with his early work on Aladdin, Modern, and especially Gold Star, it's mediocre.Age and the limitations of blues singing and playing are, of course, a factor, but Lightning had become a "star" by the time this CD was recorded and that's probably the major reason he phoned in most of these performances rather than singing and playing as well as he was capable of doing.Buy the Gold Star sides released on two CDs on Arhoolie, the same label, and you'll hear Lighting as he should be heard. Avoid this one unless you're a Lighting completist (alas, my fate).

this iis essential if you are a lightnin Hopkins fan, killer songs and guitar work, live and in a studio, great compilation, one of my favorites

Well packaged, as described. I like it

birthday present

A+

This review has been used to cover several Lightning Hopkins CDs and a DVD review of an instructional film, "The Guitar Of Lightnin' Hopkins", directed and taught by Ernie Hopkins, Stephan Grossman Studio Workshop, 2004, on learning his guitar style. I might add that this film makes abundantly clear that learning Lightning's eccentric style is definitely not for beginners. Go to the Willie Dixon song book for that.Lightnin'!, Lightning Hopkins, Arhoolie Records, 1993Free Form Patterns, Lightning Hopkins, Fuel 2000 Records, 2003Blue Lightning, Lightning Hopkins, Paula Records, 1995Lightning Hopkins & The Blues Summit, Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Big Joe Williams, EMI-Capitol Records, 2001I have spilled plenty of ink in this space tracing the main line of the blues from its acoustic origins down in the plantation South up river through the way station of Memphis and then to the electric "Mecca of Chicago. Along the way I have occasionally mentioned some of the other branches of the blues line like the North Carolina pick. I have not spent nearly enough time on some of the other important branches of the blues expansion, especially in the post World II period such as the West Coast blues and, as will be noted here, Texas blues.If the blues is synonymous with the black struggle to get by day to day, to make ends meet and to make it to Saturday night and some relieve then the very big locale of Texas and its harsh hard scrabble life and strict Jim Crow laws hardly seems out of place as a key blues outpost. From the days, in the 1920's and 1930's, of Blind Lemon Jefferson working the streets of rural small town Texas, cup in hand, up to the artist under review, Lightning Hopkins, working the small black clubs and "juke joints" of the cities (like Houston) and beyond to the sounds of blues revivalists like Stevie Ray Vaughn and his brother there has been more than enough misery to create a separate Texas blues tradition.Moreover, Brother Hopkins brings a distinctive guitar pick of his own to the "dance". He is famous, above all, for what is called the E shuffle sound as he works the guitar to create a sound that is a little "happier" than the forlorn one of the Delta or the "amped up" one of Chicago. I, unfortunately, did not get a chance to hears Lightning live until late in his career in the early 1970's when he had lost a little of his fine-toned edge. One can recapture some of that though through some of these earlier recordings from a tie when he was in full blown Lightning form. Listen up if you want to learn a different way to run a guitar from that of Muddy Waters, Bukka White, B.B. King or, for that matter, Eric ClaptonNeedless to say Lightning had covered most of the known blues classics of his time as well as his own material. The borderlines of what is one's own material and what one has reworked from the blues pool is not always clear but you need to hear, for starters, "Mojo Hand", "Hello Central", "Little Girl" and "Rock Me Baby" to get a feel for his sound. Add on such classics as "Wig Wearing Woman", "Lonesome Dog Blues" (with an eerie dog bark included free), "Back Door Friend" and you are ready to become an aficionado. Throw in the talking blues-styled "Mr. Charlie", "Baby Child" and "Cooking Done" for good measure. Finally, team up Lightning with the likes of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and the amazing Big Joe Williams (especially on Hopkins' "Ain't Nothing Like Whiskey" and "Chain Gang Blues") at the famous 1960 "blues summit" and you are ready for the graduate course.

Very good selection by one of the best Texas Blues artists ever. You may or may not recognize the name, not all of you were blessed to be born and raised in Texas like some of us, but you will recognize the music. If you've heard ZZ Top or Stevie Ray Vaughan, or a variety of other Texas greats, you've heard the influence of Lightnin' Hopkins.

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