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The Elsewhere GazetteExtra
Lightnin' Hopkins
American singer-songwriter, pianist, and guitarist (1912–1982)
Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
labels: Aladdin Records, Verve Records, Gold Star Records, Decca, RPM Records, Vee-Jay Records, Candid Records, Fire Records
genres: electric blues, country blues, Texas blues, blues
awards: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
plays: guitar, voice
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
bluestexas bluesacoustic texas bluesamericancountry blues
The Static TimesExtra
Background
The musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins is "the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act". He influenced Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams, Jr., and a generation of blues musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose Grammy-nominated song "Rude Mood" was directly inspired by the Texan's song "Hopkins' Sky Hop". In his own lifetime, Hopkins was one of the initial inductees in 1980 to the Blues Hall of Fame.
In the late 1930s, he moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s, he was back in Centerville, working as a farm hand.
Hopkins's style was born from spending many hours playing informally without a backing band. His distinctive fingerstyle technique often included playing, in effect, bass, rhythm, lead, and percussion at the same time. He played both "alternating" and "monotonic" bass styles incorporating imaginative, often chromatic turnarounds and single-note lead lines. Tapping or slapping the body of his guitar added rhythmic accompaniment.
American country blues singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Born: 15 March 1912, Centerville, Leon County, Texas, USA. - Died: 30 January 1982, Houston, Texas, USA.
In 1920, Hopkins met the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson at a social function and got a chance to play with him.
His cousin was Texas Alexander. While they were playing together in Houston in 1946, he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum of Los Angeles' Aladdin Records. Hopkins first recorded with pianist Wilson Smith and the pair were dubbed 'Lightning' & 'Thunder' to add some dynamic to their marketing.
Strong recordings followed from Hopkins, such as his song "Mojo Hand" (1960). He later inspired many artists such as Jimmie Vaughan, Townes Van Zandt and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
Often miscredited for writing the 1954 Chuck Willis' song "I Feel So Bad" covered by Little Milton and Elvis Presley among others. He also wrote a song by the same name released in 1947 on Aladdin (6) and in 1962 on Imperial.
Also known as: "Lightening" Hopkins, "Lightnin" Hopkins, "Lightnin' " Hopkins, "Lightnin'" Hopkins, "Lightning"
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Lightnin' Hopkins, the records, oldest first
Lightnin' Hopkins
1959 album
The Rooster Crowed in England
1959 album
Country Blues
1959 album
Lightnin'
1960 album
Lightnin' and the Blues
1960 album
Lightnin' in New York
1960 album
Autobiography in Blues
1960 album
Last Night Blues
1961 album
Blues in My Bottle
1961 album
Mojo Hand
1962 album
Lightnin' Sam Hopkins
1962 album
Lightnin’ and Co.
1962 album
Lightnin’ Strikes
1962 album
Walkin' This Road By Myself
1962 album
Goin’ Away
1963 album
Smokes Like Lightning
1963 album
Down Home Blues
1965 album
Lightnin’ Sonny & Brownie
1965 album
Soul Blues
1965 album
Lightning Hopkins with His Brothers Joel and John Henry and with Barbara Dane
1966 album
Something Blue
1967 album
Blue Lightnin’
1967 album
Free Form Patterns
1968 album
The Texas Bluesman
1968 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
