Originally Posted by Conan

Lightnin' Hopkins

You know why I don't care for B.B. King? He always had a backing band. It was this big, loud spectacle, and no matter how great he was, all that spectacle was distracting. Not so with Lightnin' Hopkins. Just a man and his guitar, singing the blues and pickin those lonesome tunes.



A major influence of last week's artist, Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin' Hopkins was a natural choice for this journal. Not only was he a very influential Texas blues musician, he also happens to be one of my personal favorite artists.



Lightnin' (born Sam Hopkins in 1912, died in 1982) is from Centerville, Texas. Although he had been born around the blues, the first revelation of his life as a bluesman came when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson, the "Father of Texas Blues", at age 8. He was the only person Jefferson ever aloud to play with him, and soon Lightnin' even became his guide.

He's also worked with his legendary cousin, Texas Alexander. I personally speculate that Lightnin' Hopkins' song Bring Me my Shotgun was inspired by Alexander, who murdered his wife in 1939. After spending some time in Houston County's Prison Farm, Lightnin' and Texas began playing in Houston's 3rd Ward, where he was discovered and signed to Aladdin Records. After a brief career, he was hung out to dry when more popular band-backed blues music took the spotlight away from the lone-bluesman image.

He was rediscovered in the 1960s, however - and this is the point he was recognized as a legend. The dusty, mournful blues of an old man who'd seen it all happen. The pre-war style that survived the Rock n Roll craze and the notorious overproduction of the 1950s. He was a living legend. By the late 1970s, he was the last of the great bluesmen.

His life was claimed by cancer at age 69.

Music Sampler

Hurricane Beulah and Baby, Scratch My Back


Bring Me my Shotgun (also known as Shotgun Blues)


Lonesome Road


Where to Start

Lightnin' has release many albums over the span of his career, sometimes as many as two a year.

Studio Albums to start:

Blues in my Bottle
Mojo Hand

Films:

The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1967)