Lightnin' Hopkins - Lightnin' Hopkins

When I listen to this recording again many years later, I still have the same sense of excitement I felt that day when I sat in his shadowy room with the bottle of gin on the floor, and the sounds of other people in the house drifting through the door. Through the blues revival and on into the 1970’s he went on to record many more albums, including some sessions we did together, but this one, still, for me, his most exciting musical statement. Often during those years I was asked if there was some way to describe the country blues, and the easiest way I could think of was to play this labum. Whenever I think of Linghtning and his music it is this sound and these blues that come back to me. –Sam Charters, Mansfield Center, Conn. 1990 Album Description

Raw ... Potent "From-The-Heart" Blues

Sam Hopkins, born March 15, 1912 in Centerville, Texas had his first hit single at age 37 early in 1949 when Tim Moore's Farm, originally released on Gold Star 640, but picked up and released on Modern 673, made it to # 13 on what then passed for the R&B charts (Most Played Juke Box Race Records) with You Don't Know on the flip-side. Later that year Gold Star released another cut made for them, "T" Model Blues, which got as high as # 8 on what had evolved into the Most-Played Juke Box Rhythm & Blues Records charts. The B-side was Jail House Blues by Frankie Lee Sims.

Towards the end of 1950 his recording for Aladdin, Shotgun Blues, became his best hit when it peaked at # 5 on those same charts b/w Rollin' Blues. It would be two years before he returned to the charts, this time with the quaintly-named Sittin' In With label, as the wonderful Give Me Central 209 (sometimes listed as Hello Central) topped out at # 6 b/w New York Boogie in March, followed in April by another # 6, Coffee Blues, which had New Short Haired Woman as the B-side. It was also released that year on the JAX label.

And that was it insofar as hit singles were concerned, following which Hopkins disappeared from view, until sought out in 1959 by Sam Charters. Details of that search are contained in the two pages of liner notes written in 1990 by Charters. And this album, originally released in 1959 by Folkways, was the result of that meeting. As Charters says in the notes "We recorded it (0n January 16, 1959) in the shabby room he was renting (at 2803 Hadley Street in Houston), and I held the microphone in my hand so I could move it down toward the guitar when he playing a solo, and then move it close enough to his lips for his singing, but not too close when he started to edge up on it."

The result is Blues Magic, including the not-to-be-missed track 7 where Lightnin' reminisces about "Blind" Lemon Jefferson, one of the most influential blues singer and guitarist ever and a fellow Texan who was popular in the 1920's. The photo of Lightnin' on the cover of this CD was taken by Charters at the time of the recording. Hopkins, whose cousins Smokey Hogg and Albert Collins were also noted blues singers/musicians, died after a bout with cancer on January 30, 1982, two years after being inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame in its inaugural year.

An absolute little jewel that should form part of any serious early Blues collection. November 10, 2007

A Must for Every Blues Fan

As raw, as earthy, as real as the blues can get. If you like blues, you need to hear this recording. July 8, 2007

Try 55 Stars

Lightnin' is the best, I buy all his stuff, I love him man, you gott'a ad him to your CD collection if you call yourself a blues fan! January 17, 2007

Lightnin' Strikes !

This is a marvellous CD--no-frills, honest, straight-from-the-heart acoustic blues from a true master. I actually felt as if I were in the same room with this legendary artist.

I'm not sure where the dividing line is between blues and folk--in the case of Lightnin' Hopkins maybe there isn't one. This is surely American music at its purest, undistilled best !

No more hype--if you want to add a very special disc to your collection, look no further. October 1, 2003

Superb Lightnin'

This magnificent recording is in my top five blues albums of all time. That's saying something. While it is not necessarily the most representative Lightnin' Hopkins, it might be the best. Here is Lightnin' bursting with energy after having vanished from the recording scene for four years, and the emotional, joyful, painful, gorgeously human blues he gives vent to are staggering to hear. Just Lightnin', close-miked in a hotel room, playing from his soul, with no clue that he was igniting his career anew with this album. Sound is outstanding, songs are less personal than usual for him (many are traditional) but absolutely riveting. Buy this and look into the soul of country blues. Buy it, and smile. April 23, 2000

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