May 13 2008
Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins: Lonesome Road
I had a Lightnin Hopkins LP back around 1970 or so that I played over and over again. Hopkins played what was called Texas blues. He alternated lines of verse with lines of guitar licks in a style that sounded deceivingly simple. Deceiving because he had no band backing him up, just the one guitar. Hopkins got his nickname from a record executive, when he was playing in a piano/guitar duo with Wilson Smith in California in the 1940s, Aladdin Records, in their wisdom, dubbed them “Thunder” and Lightnin.”
Hopkins spent most of his career playing in Houston Texas clubs and recording for a small record label there. In the 1960s he was swept up in the general folk revival and toured nationally, playing many festivals and folk clubs. This clip shows him in Houston in 1960, just before he went off to fame and fortune. He is playing a cheap acoustic guitar, perhaps a Kay a Stella or a Silvertone which he has modified with the addition of a pickup.
Here he is ten years later, playing a Fender Stratocaster and being backed by a bass and drums, in a high paying venue.
I just love Lightnin. Here is one more. The YouTube poster describes this as Hopkins’ lask gig. It was filmed in the Netherlands.
Again, fantastic pick.
I meant to drop you line to tell you about Buddy Guy’s performance recently at Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Fest. He was, and I’m not exaggerating in the least bit, absolutely incredible. The entire crowd was simply blown away. Closed with “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember,” and it honestly, well, brought tears to my eyes.
I’m sure you’d have appreciated the show.
-The Rev.
Thanks, Rev. I would love to see Buddy play. Maybe we can get him at the Mainstay . Stranger things have happened.