A sonic exploration and tonal analysis of contemporary creative music in a myriad of improvisational/composed settings, textures, and expressions.
Welcome to Sound Projections
I'm your host Kofi Natambu. This online magazine features the very best in contemporary creative music in this creative timezone NOW (the one we're living in) as well as that of the historical past. The purpose is to openly explore, examine, investigate, reflect on, studiously critique, and take opulent pleasure in the sonic and aural dimensions of human experience known and identified to us as MUSIC. I'm also interested in critically examining the wide range of ideas and opinions that govern our commodified notions of the production, consumption, marketing, and commercial exchange of organized sound(s) which largely define and thereby (over)determine our present relationships to music in the general political economy and culture.
Thus this magazine will strive to critically question and go beyond the conventional imposed notions
and categories of what constitutes the generic and stylistic definitions of ‘Jazz’, ‘classical music’, ‘Blues.’
'Rhythm and Blues’, ‘Rock and Roll’, ‘Pop’, ‘Funk’, ‘Hip Hop’, etc. in order to search for what individual
artists and ensembles do cretively to challenge and transform our ingrained ideas and attitudes of what
music is and could be.
So please join me in this ongoing visceral, investigative, and cerebral quest to explore, enjoy, and pay
homage to the endlessly creative and uniquely magisterial dimensions of MUSIC in all of its guises and expressive identities.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (1912 –1982): Legendary, iconic, and innovative musician, composer, singer, songwriter, producer, and teacher
SOUND PROJECTIONS AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU SPRING, 2017
Sam Hopkins
was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began
in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins
watched the genre change remarkably, but he never appreciably altered
his mournful Lone Star sound, which translated onto both acoustic and
electric guitar. Hopkins'
nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his
fascinating penchant for improvising lyrics to fit whatever situation
might arise made him a beloved blues troubadour.
–– ADVERTISEMENT ––
Hopkins' brothers John Henry and Joel were also talented bluesmen, but it was Sam who became a star. In 1920, he met the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson at a social function, and even got a chance to play with him. Later, Hopkins served as Jefferson's guide. In his teens, Hopkins began working with another pre-war great, singer Texas Alexander,
who was his cousin. A mid-'30s stretch in Houston's County Prison Farm
for the young guitarist interrupted their partnership for a time, but
when he was freed, Hopkins hooked back up with the older bluesman.
The pair was dishing out their lowdown brand of blues in Houston's Third Ward in 1946 when talent scout Lola Anne Cullum came across them. She had already engineered a pact with Los Angeles-based Aladdin Records for another of her charges, pianist Amos Milburn, and Cullum saw the same sort of opportunity within Hopkins' dusty country blues. Alexander wasn't part of the deal; instead, Cullum paired Hopkins with pianist Wilson "Thunder" Smith, sensibly re-christened the guitarist "Lightnin'," and presto! Hopkins was very soon an Aladdin recording artist. "Katie May," cut on November 9, 1946, in L.A. with Smith lending a hand on the 88s, was Lightnin' Hopkins'
first regional seller of note. He recorded prolifically for Aladdin in
both L.A. and Houston into 1948, scoring a national R&B hit for the
firm with his "Shotgun Blues." "Short Haired Woman," "Abilene," and "Big
Mama Jump," among many Aladdin gems, were evocative Texas blues rooted
in an earlier era. A load of other labels recorded the wily Hopkins
after that, both in a solo context and with a small rhythm section:
Modern/RPM (his uncompromising "Tim Moore's Farm" was an R&B hit in
1949); Gold Star (where he hit with "T-Model Blues" that same year);
Sittin' in With ("Give Me Central 209" and "Coffee Blues" were national
chart entries in 1952) and its Jax subsidiary; the major labels Mercury
and Decca; and, in 1954, a remarkable batch of sides for Herald where Hopkins
played blistering electric guitar on a series of blasting rockers
("Lightnin's Boogie," "Lightnin's Special," and the amazing "Hopkins'
Sky Hop") in front of drummer Ben Turner and bassist Donald Cooks (who must have had bleeding fingers, so torrid were some of the tempos).
But Hopkins'
style was apparently too rustic and old-fashioned for the new
generation of rock & roll enthusiasts (they should have checked out
"Hopkins' Sky Hop"). He was back on the Houston scene by 1959, largely
forgotten. Fortunately, folklorist Mack McCormick rediscovered the guitarist, who was dusted off and presented as a folk-blues artist; a role that Hopkins was born to play. Pioneering musicologist Sam Charters produced Hopkins in a solo context for Folkways Records that same year, cutting an entire LP, Lightnin' Hopkins, in Hopkins' tiny apartment (on a borrowed guitar). The results helped introduced his music to an entirely new audience.
Lightnin' Hopkins
went from gigging at back-alley gin joints to starring at collegiate
coffeehouses, appearing on TV programs, and touring Europe to boot. His
once-flagging recording career went right through the roof, with albums
for World Pacific; Vee-Jay; Bluesville; Bobby Robinson's
Fire label (where he cut his classic "Mojo Hand" in 1960); Candid;
Arhoolie; Prestige; Verve; and, in 1965, the first of several LPs for Stan Lewis' Shreveport-based Jewel logo. Hopkins
generally demanded full payment before he'd deign to sit down and
record, and seldom indulged a producer's desire for more than one take
of any song. His singular sense of country time befuddled more than a
few unseasoned musicians; from the 1960s on, his solo work is usually
preferable to band-backed material. Filmmaker Les Blank
captured the Texas troubadour's informal lifestyle most vividly in his
acclaimed 1967 documentary, The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins. As
one of the last great country bluesmen, Hopkins was a fascinating figure who bridged the gap between rural and urban styles.
This article appears in the May/June 2015 “Blues Issue,” now available on newsstands.
Listen, if you will, to the first 30
seconds of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Moanin’ Blues.” Listen to what happens
when the weight of the world and love and loss is too much – if that all
could form a pulse, a breath, a ratcheted rhythm, it would be this.
Even before his lips form more than a drawn-out “mmmm,” and even without
ever touching on a chorus or repetitive, easy vamp, Hopkins breathes
and plucks humanity. ‘I can’t hardly keep from crying,” he sings, with
pulls of the strings cutting through like acid tears, the hollow of his
guitar a quivering lip. No one else can capture what life feels like –
what it really feels like, in all its ache and sadness and uneasy humor –
quite this way. Two and a half minutes of “Moanin’ Blues” and we know
we all must moan the same: we all, really, get the blues.
“When you get a sad feelin’, you can tell
the whole round world you’ve got nothin’ but the blues,” Hopkins says
in the 1967 documentary The Blues According to Lightnin’ Hopkins,
and he was the vessel for it. Born Sam John Hopkins, he grew up on a
cotton farm in Centerville, Texas, immersed in music from the likes of
Alger “Texas” Alexander and other local luminaries – Blind Lemon
Jefferson, known for his fast-picking and haunting howl, let the young
boy play alongside him on a cigar box with chicken wire strings,
becoming an early and deep influence. He went on to develop a style that
spoke its own complete language: you can’t describe Lightnin’ Hopkins
as “bluesy” so much as you can describe Shakespeare as “Shakespearian.”
He was the first and only of his kind.
When Hopkins died in 1982 at the age of 69, The New York Times
called him “perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar
players,” but the headline referred to him as “blues singer.” That
dichotomy says it all – Hopkins played the blues, but his musical style
was as important to the evolution of rock and roll as Elvis’ hip shimmy.
The way his notes wrapped around the words, not went along with them,
informed a whole generation of loose, freewheeling compositions unafraid
of using an off-the-tracks rhythm – Jack White owes a lot to Led
Zeppelin, but they both owe more to Hopkins, in the same way that so
many modern musicians who drive their songs from a place of syncopated
emotion, and not predictability, did. And do. The dynamic crush of the
Black Keys’ “I’m Not The One” rings pure to Hopkins’ roots, and bands as
far ranging as the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Jimi Hendrix to Eric
Clapton all owe licks to Lightnin’.
Hopkins made dozens of LPs on many
different labels, but they were often just as indicative as he could be
live – he rarely recorded multiple takes, and his improvisational style
came through loud and clear. Some call him country blues – whatever that
means, really – something that Justin Townes Earle once showcased
artfully in his cover of “My Starter Won’t Start,” which used the
singer’s lead plucks to trace the meeting place between these two genres
that, in their essences, sometimes aren’t as far apart as they might
seem.
In fact, it’s Hopkins himself that is so
difficult to define because his influence is so broad. Rock, blues,
jazz, country. It’s all built on his gut-wrenching performances, his
heartbreaking lyrics that sometimes take a wink at themselves on his
free-form discourse between the guitar and the singer. It’s never quite
clear, or important, really, whether it’s the vocal or the melody that’s
driving a song; they talk with each other, play, push and pull. Even a
heavy-metal solo can find some roots in that – as can anyone who takes a
left turn from traditional music patterns (12 bars are just the
beginning), starts a song with a single-note lead or makes dissonant
sounds scream poetry.
From traveling in his early days with
Alexander to stints on the Chicago blues scene or the ’60s folk revival,
Hopkins never wavered, never compromised, and influenced generations
past and generations to come. You can tell the whole round world you’ve
got nothin’ but the blues, but no one told them like he did, and it’s
quite possible no one ever will.
Les Blank spent the early part of his thirties, and much of his
twenties, putting together industrial movies, basically educational
films for the corporate world, movies to promote the venture to
investors and employees. Blank called them "insipid" and moved quickly
to get his career on a different track. He wasn't fond of wasting his
creative output on low rent promotional movies for corporations so he
left, set up his own production company, and started making short
observations on film. We might call them documentaries and, indeed, few
have ever documented better than Blank, but his films are structured in
such a beautiful, informal way, they come off as observations by a
casual observer, yet are so expertly compiled that only a fool would
think it all happened by way of happy accident. The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins was only his second effort and it stands as one of his best, still.
Early on in his documentary career, Les Blank had a radical idea. Rather
than show a bunch of still images or talking heads, complete with
captions to let us know who we're listening to, why not actually just
document a culture, a person, an activity? That such a concept in the
history of documentary filmmaking would seem radical just goes to show
how far off course many documentaries have travelled. Blank simply
filmed the culture in action and later, in the editing booth, put the
pieces of the puzzle together in a way that not only documented but
enlightened. From start to finish, The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins, does nothing but show Hopkins perform, talk and fish and yet, by the end, we have a full picture of the man and his music.
Throughout his career, Lightnin' Hopkins, born Sam John Hopkins, was
prolific. Starting at an early age, he began playing with such legends
as Blind Lemon Jefferson at church but, despite a few tries, could never
break into the music business. Finally, in 1946, at the age of 34, he
recorded his first album, twelve songs with pianist Wilson Smith, and
the two were renamed Lightnin' and Thunder. From there, Hopkins kept
recording dozens and dozens of records until it was estimated he
exceeded 1,000 recordings. By the sixties, blues historians pointed to
him as one of the greatest carriers of the blues tradition in existence.
Hopkins settled in Houston, Texas and after the fifties, rarely left it.
Despite all his success with recording the blues, and his later
international fame, Hopkins never lived anything more than a simple
existence, driven by his passion for the blues, a musical form and
emotional state that were both something he felt strongly anyone could
understand. He was also a great storyteller, outside of music, and a
highlight in the movie occurs when he tells a tale about swerving to
miss a pig in the road that has, as its punchline, a moral about looking
out for oneself because good deeds rarely go unpunished.
Les Blank spent the rest of his career fascinated with documenting the
culture, often through examining the different American musical styles
of the South, from the blues to zydeco. After his early successes in
1968, he never returned to the sterile world of industrial filmmaking
and the rest of the world can be grateful. His examinations into the
culture have left works that are themselves now cultural landmarks. Not
surprisingly, his documentary, Burden of Dreams, about the making of famed director Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo,
is probably more seen than the narrative film it documents. And Blank's
passion for finding the truth inside the everyday led to some of the
most engaging documentaries in the realm of cinema. Without talking
heads giving their "expert" opinion or endless still photographs
accompanied by solemn narration, Blank manages to inform more in one
documentary short than a year's worth of feature length documentaries
could hope to do. Lightnin' Hopkins says during the course of the film,
"When I play the guitar, I play it from my heart." The same could be say
of Les Blank when he makes a movie. It shows in every frame.
Where Lightnin' Strikes A Film by Mark Susman and Mike Snow
The Film
Houston-based Fast Cut Films, in
association with Sunset Productions, is working on a documentary feature
film, “Where Lightnin’ Strikes,” about the life and times of Houston
blues legend Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins (1912-1982). The enduring musical
journey of Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins began on a cotton farm in
Centerville,Texas in 1912. He was drawn to the music he heard played by
an older brother. After meeting up with Dallas bluesman Blind Lemon
Jefferson, Sam left the hardscrabble life of the Texas cotton fields,
determined to play his way to better circumstances. Possessing a sharp
wit and a unique ability for endless improvisation, Lightnin became a
master storyteller. He was able to convey profound truths about the
human condition via poetic imagery. The “Po’ Lightnin” that inhabited
his tales of struggle and misery became the “Everyman” that black
audiences identified with and white audiences flocked to performances to
experience. Whether playing on a street corner on Dowling Street or at
Carnegie Hall his style defined Texas blues. He sounded like no one else
yet influenced every one. His unique musical style influenced
generations of blues, rock, country and soul musicians as well as
filmmakers, writers and painters. Over the course of his 60-year career,
Lightnin’ Hopkins recorded more music than any other blues artist. His
discography includes more than 100 albums for more than twenty different
recording labels. He made Houston his home in the 1940s. In 1982, his
funeral drew more than 4,000 devoted fans and musicians to the city to
celebrate and honor him.
WHY THIS FILM IS IMPORTANT
The blues is a response to a legacy of
deprivation, and a tribute to the belief that “what doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger.” Hopkins struggled to exist while living on the
sporadic and meager income generated while playing clubs and anywhere
else he could be heard. He always kept moving forward to rise above his
early life. “Where Lightnin’ Strikes” will tell Hopkins’ story of
survival and of his contributions to the landscape of music, the arts,
and humanity itself. This rich story needs to be told before the
memories are lost.
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Lightnin’ was famous
worldwide and, arguably, the most historically significant musician from
Houston. During the 1960s, Lightnin’s music brought together disparate
cultures, once separated by color and circumstance, in a communal human
experience. “Where Lightnin’ Strikes” will examine how Hopkins’ music is
colorblind and unifying. The film will reveal how his music inspired
people of different cultures in unpredictable ways. This documentary is
an exploration and celebration of the life of a unique and talented
individual. His life was a humble one but the impact of his music and
the poetry of his lyrics went beyond the borders of Houston, reaching
around the world inspiring all that heard him.
Lightnin’s story is an important part of
Houston’s heritage as he made Houston’s historically black Third Ward
home. Regrettably, no public acknowledgment of Lightnin’ or his
contribution to Houston’s heritage and culture can be found in Houston.
This documentary will educate the community on Lightnin’s life and
preserve his memory.
SCOPE
The film, currently in production, includes on-camera interviews with family members, band members, historians, eyewitnesses and musicians influenced by Lightnin’s work. Additionally the film will explore Lightnin’s influence on artists outside of music including painters, sculptors and writers. These interviews will be combined with archival photographs, newsreels, and performance footage.
The blues is ripe for endless and constant reinvention. Through the decades, it has developed in many different incarnations.
These include plantation field hollers; the acoustic guitar playing
and songwriting mastery of Charlie Patton, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon
Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell and Robert Johnson; the Chicago, Memphis
and Texas blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and T-Bone Walker; and the
mid-to-late-Sixties blues-rock revolution spearheaded by
Cream and the
Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Today, bands such as the North Mississippi All-Stars, the Black Keys
and Alabama Shakes continue to explore new ways to navigate the dark,
swampy sounds honed through this long tradition of blues interpretation.
In this edition of In Deep, we’ll be taking a look at the guitar work
of two essential early blues guitar masters: John Lee Hooker and
Lightnin’ Hopkins.
John Lee Hooker was born in 1917 in Coahoma County, Mississippi, and
learned to play guitar from his stepfather, Willie Moore, who,
conveniently for John Lee, was friends with Blind Lemon Jefferson and
Charlie Patton. Hooker went on the road at age 14, joining legendary
bluesman Robert Nighthawk in Memphis.
In 1948, Hooker began his recording career in style, cutting two
incredible tunes—“Boogie Chillen’ ” and “Sally Mae”—at his first
sessions, cut in Detroit. The songs were released on the Modern label,
owned by the Bihari Brothers (who also recorded B.B. King’s earliest
sides), and Hooker’s ascent to blues superstardom was underway.
Hooker performed and recorded a great many tunes on both acoustic and
electric guitar in open A tuning (low to high, E A E A C# E),
oftentimes using a capo at the first, second or third fret to perform in
different keys. He picked with his fingers, primarily using his thumb
to strike the bass strings and index finger to pluck the higher strings,
and achieved a warm and very percussive sound, often performing alone
or with another guitarist for accompaniment.
FIGURE 1 illustrates a rhythm figure along the lines
of “Boogie Chillen’.” Though written in 4/4, this figure is played with
a triplet, or swing-eighths, feel, which means that notes indicated as
pairs of eighth notes are actually sounded as a quarter note followed by
an eighth note within a triplet bracket.
Throughout this passage, the thumb and index finger alternate
striking the lower and higher strings, with a quick, rolling double
hammer-on occurring at the end of each bar. In bar 1, the hammer-on
begins on the fourth fret and moves chromatically (one fret at a time)
up to the sixth fret. In bar 2, the hammer-on starts on the second fret
and moves up chromatically to the fourth fret. In bar 3, rapid slides up
to the third fret are executed with an index-finger barre across the
top two strings.
One of the fascinating aspects of Hooker’s open A playing was that he
often used only two primary chords, the “I” (one) and the “IV” (four),
forgoing the use of a “V” (five) chord that is common to the majority of
blues music. In open A tuning, Hooker would use a standard C “cowboy”
chord grip as his four chord, which yields an unusual Dadd9/C sound, as
illustrated in FIGURE 2.
Another interesting aspect of Hooker’s solo work is that he would
often shift from a swinging triplet feel to the use of even, or
“straight,” eighth notes, which provides great rhythmic contrast and
tension. As shown in FIGURE 3, I begin with straight
eighths on a sliding A7 chord voicing and then move back to the swinging
feel when the initial riff is restated in bars 5–7.
Hooker also often used the D7/A voicing shown in FIGURE 4 for his
four chord: with the index finger barred across the top three strings at
the fifth fret, the pinkie is added and removed from the high E
string’s eighth fret. Robert Johnson often used this pattern to great
effect as well.
Hooker devised some great and very distinct licks in open A tuning, a few of which are presented in FIGURE 5.
Following index-finger slides on the top two strings, different A and
A7 voicings are followed by great single-note and double-stop licks
played on the middle strings using a bit of rhythmic syncopation. You
can hear Hooker play riffs like these on his classic song “Sally Mae.”
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons is a Hooker fanatic, and you can hear many of
these kinds of licks on Top classics like “La Grange” and “Jesus Just
Left Chicago.”
Combining open strings with single-note riffs is a central element of
Hooker’s style, made more effective with fingerpicking. FIGURE 6,
inspired by “Crawling Kingsnake,” and FIGURE 7, a nod to “Tease Me,”
offer a few more examples of how Hooker would combine a catchy melody
with an insistent root-note, open-string pedal tone.
In later years, Hooker relied more often on standard tuning, while
still using the capo on the first few frets for changing keys. A great
example of his playing style in standard tuning can be heard on “Boom
Boom Out Go the Lights.” FIGURE 8 offers an example in
this style, marrying a repeated melody, based on E minor pentatonic (E G
A B D) to an alternating bass line.
Lightnin’ Hopkins was born in 1912 in Centerville, Texas. Like
Hooker, he learned directly from encounters with Blind Lemon Jefferson.
He began his recording career in 1946 and went on to become one of the
most influential blues guitarists ever. Elements of his style are clear
in the playing of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck,
Stevie Ray Vaughan and just about everyone that played or plays blues
guitar.
Hopkins often performed unaccompanied acoustic guitar (or amplified
acoustic), picking with his fingers in a manner similar to Hooker but
with the use of a thumb pick.
FIGURES 9 and 10 offer examples of a mid-tempo swinging 12/8 blues played in his style, akin to his take on the blues classic “Goin’ Down Slow.”
by Andrew Dansby February 7, 2013 Houston Chronicle
SAM 'LIGHTNIN'' HOPKINS Photo: Richard Pipes, HC Staff
Though born in Centerville, Sam "Lightnin' " Hopkins lived in Houston for years.
More than 60 years after he made his first recordings, Houston's Sam
"Lightnin' " Hopkins will be honored this week by the Recording Academy,
the organization that stages the annual Grammy Awards.
The late bluesman will be honored at an invitation-only ceremony
Saturday in Los Angeles, then will be acknowledged Sunday during the
55th annual Grammy Awards telecast at the Staples Center. Along with
music stars, pioneers and innovators such as the Temptations, Carole
King, Charlie Haden, Glenn Gould, Patti Page and Ravi Shankar, Hopkins
will receive the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The accolade is long overdue for the iconoclastic blues legend.
Self-described in some of his songs as "poor ol' Lightnin'," Hopkins
for years failed to attract the same national attention as other
20th-century blues greats. He's yet to be inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.
But in his New York Times obituary for Hopkins, who died
in 1982 at age 69, the late, great music critic Robert Palmer called him
"perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players."
"What's such a blessing to me is that even after all these years,
this recognition he's receiving is something he deserved," said Bertha
Kelly, one of Hopkins' granddaughters. "To know there are people who
appreciated his form of singing and playing, that's why I'm so excited
about this award."
Eccentric style
Hopkins' influence can be heard not only in contemporary blues but in
some jazz, soul, rock, folk and country as well. In a genre of rigid
regional traditions, Hopkins was an anomaly with his laconic but
expressive drawl and a unique feel for time. Whether playing electric or
acoustic guitars, Hopkins' sensibility on the instrument was singular. He played fast and loose with the usual 12-bar blues format, his
spidery fingers producing remarkable combinations of lead licks along
with rhythm and bass.
"He played unpredictably quick lead runs while simultaneously keeping
a train-like, behind-the-beat rhythm going underneath," said guitar
great Doyle Bramhall II, "in songs that capture the true nature of Texas
folklore." The prickly, odd country quality of his blues may have been part of
the reason Hopkins was slower to receive recognition than other players.
"The Chicago sound, Muddy Waters' band, Howlin' Wolf and his band -
those you could hear the direct link to rock 'n' roll," said blues
historian Roger Wood, author of "Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues."
"You could hear them and easily understand how blues and rock were
related.
"Lightnin's personal choices and the style he played were so
individualistic and eccentric. It's possible they just didn't register
the same way. Those other guys had a bigger sound that was such an
easy-glove fit with the classic rock sound." Hopkins also didn't benefit from a career resurgence in his autumn
years as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker did. Both of those players
made comeback recordings with younger musicians they had influenced.
Hopkins had stopped recording years before esophageal cancer claimed
him.
Another factor: His discography is something of a mess, due in part
to his preference for being paid up front in cash for recording
sessions. Business wasn't Hopkins' strong point. Thus his music is
spread across numerous record labels - a few of them reputable, many now
obsolete. He died without the assurance of a large company tending to
his legacy.
Local, national impact
Hopkins was born in Centerville in 1912. He received early tutoring
from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Alger "Texas" Alexander, and began
playing music as a child. Hopkins lived in Houston briefly in the 1930s
and settled in the Third Ward permanently around 1946, which is when he
made his first recording sessions in Los Angeles for the Aladdin label. A
year later, he cut some of his most enduring work in Houston for Bill
Quinn's Gold Star Records.
The 1960s blues revival and its relationship to a burgeoning folk
music clearly show part of Hopkins' impact. Houston's folk and
coffee-house scene produced numerous players who'd go to see him
perform, then take what they heard and create their own songs with
Hopkins' fingerprints all over them. Townes Van Zandt was perhaps the
greatest Hopkins acolyte, but he wasn't alone. Musicians such as Eric
Taylor, Steve Earle and Ray Wylie Hubbard all recall the profound effect
of seeing him play.
Hubbard says Hopkins' "playing was perfection in taste and speed, and
the beautiful anguish of his vocal is still haunting to this day."
Musicians like Dusty Hill and Frank Beard of ZZ Top, or Rex "Wrecks"
Bell, owner of the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, backed him up at
performances.
Influenced generations
Hopkins' reach with these musicians was inestimable, and they in turn
passed it along. In the liner notes to one of his albums, Lyle Lovett
attributed a guitar lick in one of his songs to Taylor, as Taylor heard
it played by Hopkins. Van Zandt was a mentor to a young Steve Earle,
whose son, Justin Townes Earle, knows Hopkins' discography intimately. Outside of Houston, Hopkins still carries sway with discerning
musicians. Eric Clapton is among his more prominent fans, as is the
young guitar virtuoso Gary Clark Jr. Erykah Badu referenced Hopkins in a
song's lyrics. And Bramhall has Hopkins' image tattooed on his forearm.
Historical marker
As well regarded as Hopkins is in Houston - his visage appears on the
logo for the Houston Blues Society - it nevertheless took tireless work
by one fan, Eric Davis, to get Hopkins a Texas Historical Marker in
2010. (Crockett beat Houston in this regard, putting up a statue of
Hopkins in 2002.) Prior to its placement at Dowling and Francis Streets,
where Hopkins used to catch the city bus, the only monument tying
Hopkins to Houston was his headstone at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.
Hopkins has garnered some notice since, particularly last year during
his centennial. Rolling Stone included him in its 100 greatest
guitarists issue, though its comment that he was "as unpredictable as
John Lee Hooker" understates Hopkins' cunning way with a song.
Hopkins still has family in Houston, including his cousin guitarist
Milton Hopkins, who remains a lively traditional blues performer.
Granddaughter Kelly, 65, and three of her four children will attend
the ceremonies this weekend. She said she gravitated toward gospel more
than blues, "but we still have many, many good memories together." Her
son, Andre Kelly, plays piano because of Hopkins' encouragement.
"Granddaddy is the one who asked me if there was anybody in the
household that was playing," Kelly said. "I told him no, and he said, 'I
want you to get an instrument in the house. Because music is in our
bloodline.' "
THE MUSIC OF LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS:
Lightnin' Hopkins--"Baby, Please Don't Go":
Lightnin'
Hopkins performs Baby, Please Don't Go. From his Vestapol DVD
collection Lightnin' Hopkins - Rare Performances 1960-1979 (http://www.guitarvideos.com/products/...
Tracklist: 01. 00:00 • I'm Going to Build Me a Heaven of My Own 02. 05:59 • My Babe 03. 09:22 • Too Many Drivers 04. 12:54 • I'm a Crawling Black Snake 05. 17:46 • Rocky Mountain Blues 06. 21:41 • I Mean Goodbye 07. 24:44 • The Howling Wolf 08. 28:39 • Black Ghost Blues 09. 32:12 • Darling, Do You Remember Me 10. 35:53 • Lonesome Graveyard
Lightnin' Hopkins - 'Walk The Blues'-- [Full Album]:
Lightnin' Hopkins - 'Country Blues' (Full Album):
1. 0:00 Long Time 2. 1:36 Rainy Day Blues 3. 4:47 Baby! 4. 7:55 Long Gone Like A Turkey Through The Corn 5. 11:40 Prison Blues Come Down On Me 6. 15:07 Backwater Blues (That Mean Ol' Twister) 7. 17:55 Gonna Pull A Party 8. 21:36 Bluebird, Bluebird 9. 23:04 See, See Rider 10. 26.18 Worrying My Mind 11. 29:49 Till The Gin Gets Here 12. 30:53 Bunion Stew 13. 32:53 You Gotta Work To Get Your Pay 14. 35:25 Go Down Old Hannah 15. 39:00 Hear My Black Dog Bark
Lightnin' Hopkins - Portrait of a Blues Legend:
Tracklist : 00:00 - Automobile 02:45 - Mojo Hand 05:48 - Moanin' Blues 08:14 - Conversation Blues 12:05 - I'm Beggin' You 14:40 - Penitentiary Blues 17:34 - Last Night Blues 22:51 - Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes 26:34 - Katie Mae Blues 29:34 - Baby Please Don't Go 32:23 - Give Me Central 209 35:20 - Contrary Mary 38:00 - Fan It 40:44 - Shotgun Blues 43:24 - Lonesome Dog Blues 46:03 - Santa
Lightnin' Hopkins (Folkways)--1959:
Track listing: 0:00 Penitentiary Blues 3:05 Bad Luck and Trouble 6:51 Come and Go With Me 10:45 Trouble Stay 'Way From My Door 14:52 See That My Grave Is Kept Clean 17:02 Goin' Back To Florida 20:14 Reminiscences of Blind Lemon 22:31 Fan It 25:16 Tell Me, Baby 27:54 She's Mine
From cassette, Texas Blues 1959
Blues Legend Lightnin' Hopkins - 1967 Documentary:
The Blues According To Lightnin' Hopkins, Directed by Les Blank:
Lightnin' Hopkins - The Complete Herald Singles Full Album:
On Electric guitar: 1954 Tracklist: 1 I Love You Baby 2 Shine On Moon 3 Lightnin's Boogie 4 Lonesome In Your Home 5 Remember Me 6 Sittin' Here Thinkin' 7 Lightnin's Special 8 Please Don't Go Baby 9 Don't Think 'Cause You're Pretty 10 Life I Used To Live 11 Grandma's Boogie 12 My Baby's Gone 13 Early Mornin' Boogie 14 Sick Feeling Blues 15 Moving On Out Boogie 16 Hopkins' Sky Hop 17 Evil Hearted Woman 18 Don't Need No Job 19 Blues For My Cookie 20 Had A Gal Called Sal 21 They Wonder Who I Am 22 Nothin' But The Blues 23 That's All Right Baby 24 Finally Met My Baby 25 My Little Kewpie Doll 26 Wonder What Is Wrong With Me
Lightnin' Hopkins - 'Blues In My Bottle'-- 1961:
Tracklist:
1 - "Buddy Brown's Blues" (Alger "Texas" Alexander) 2 - "Wine
Spodee-O-Dee" (Stick McGhee, J. Mayo Williams) 3 - "Sail On, Little
Girl, Sail On" (Traditional) 4 - "DC-7" (Hopkins) 5 - "Death
Bells" (Hopkins) 6 - "Goin' to Dallas to See My Pony Run"
(Traditional) 7 -"Jailhouse Blues" (Traditional) 8 - "Blues in
My Bottle" (Traditional) 9 - "Beans, Beans, Beans" (Traditional,
Hopkins) 10 - "Catfish Blues" (Traditional) 11 - "My Grandpa Is
Old Too!" (Hopkins)
Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982)[1] was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, and occasional pianist, from Centerville, Texas. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.[2]
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".[3]
Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas,[4] and as a child was immersed in the sounds of the blues. He developed a deep appreciation for this music at the age of 8, when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas.[5] That day, Hopkins felt the blues was "in him".[citation needed] He went on to learn from his older (distant) cousin, the country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander.[5] (Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.[6])
Hopkins began accompanying Jefferson on guitar at informal church
gatherings. Jefferson reputedly never let anyone play with him except
young Hopkins, and Hopkins learned much from Jefferson at these
gatherings.
In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm; the offense for which he was imprisoned is unknown.[5]
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 took a second shot at Houston in 1946. While singing on Dowling Street in Houston's Third Ward (which would become his home base), he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum of Aladdin Records, based in Los Angeles.[5]
She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles, where he accompanied
the pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first
sessions in 1946. An Aladdin executive decided the pair needed more
dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson
"Thunder".
Gold Star promotional photograph, 1948
Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947. He returned to Houston and began recording for Gold Star Records. In the late 1940s and 1950s he rarely performed outside Texas, only occasionally traveling to the Midwest and the East
for recording sessions and concert appearances. It has been estimated
that he recorded between eight hundred and a thousand songs in his
career. He performed regularly at nightclubs in and around Houston,
particularly on Dowling Street, where he had been discovered by Aladdin.
He recorded the hit records "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid- to late 1950s, his prodigious output of high-quality recordings had gained him a following among African Americans and blues aficionados.[citation needed]
In 1959, the blues researcher Mack McCormick contacted Hopkins, hoping to bring him to the attention of a broader musical audience engaged in the folk revival.[5] McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in California. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960, alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, performing the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep". In 1960, he signed with Tradition Records. The recordings which followed included his song "Mojo Hand" in 1960.
In 1968, Hopkins recorded the album Free Form Patterns, backed by the rhythm section of the psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, he released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major folk music festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally. He toured extensively in the United States[3] and played a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.
Hopkins was Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years. He recorded more albums than any other bluesman.[3]
Hopkins died of esophageal cancer in Houston on January 30, 1982, at the age of 69. His obituary in the New York Times described him as "one of the great country blues singers and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players."[7]
Hopkins is mentioned in Erykah Badu's
2010 "Window Seat": "I don't want to time-travel no more, I want to be
here. On this porch I'm rockin', back and forth like Lightnin' Hopkins."
R.E.M. included the song "Lightnin' Hopkins" on their 1987 album Document.
Hopkins's song "Back to New Orleans (Baby Please Don't Go)" was performed by the fictional country singer Cherlene in the FX television comedy Archer (season 5, episode 1).
A statue in the shape of a lightning bolt, dedicated to Hopkins, rests in the Historic West End District of Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas.
Style
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.[citation needed] 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.
Much of Hopkins's music follows the standard 12-bar blues template, but his phrasing was free and loose. Many of his songs were in the talking blues style, but he was a powerful and confident singer.[citation needed]
Lyrically, his songs expressed the problems of life in the segregated
South, bad luck in love and other subjects common in the blues idiom. He
dealt with these subjects with humor and good nature. Many of his songs
are filled with double entendres, and he was known for his humorous introductions to songs.[citation needed]
Some of his songs were of warning and sour prediction, such as "Fast Life Woman":
You may see a fast life woman sittin' round a whiskey joint,
Yes, you know, she'll be sittin' there smilin',
'Cause she knows some man gonna buy her half a pint,
Take it easy, fast life woman, 'cause you ain't gon' live always...[3]
Kofi Natambu, editor of and contributor to Sound Projections, is a writer, poet, cultural critic, and political journalist whose poetry, essays, criticism, reviews, and journalism have appeared in many literary magazines, journals, newspapers, and anthologies. He has written extensively about music as a critic and historian for many publications, including the Black Scholar, Downbeat, Solid Ground: A New World Journal, Detroit Metro Times, KONCH, the Panopticon Review,Black Renaissance Noire, the Village Voice, the City Sun (NYC), the Poetry Project Newsletter (NYC), and the African American Review. He is the author of a biography Malcolm X: His Life & Work (Alpha Books) and two books of poetry: The Melody Never Stops (Past Tents Press) and Intervals (Post Aesthetic Press). He was the founder and editor of Solid Ground: A New World Journal, a national quarterly magazine of the arts, culture, and politics and the editor of a literary anthology Nostalgia for the Present (Post Aesthetic Press). Natambu has read his work throughout the country and given many lectures and workshops at academic and arts institutions. He has taught American literature, literary theory and criticism, cultural history and criticism, film studies, political science, creative writing, philosophy, critical theory, and music history and criticism (Jazz, Blues, R&B, Hip Hop) at many universities and colleges. He was also a curator in the Education Department of Detroit’s Museum of African American History. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Natambu currently lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Chuleenan.
![Lightnin' Hopkins [Smithsonian/Folkways]](https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0000/019/MI0000019012.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
SAM 'LIGHTNIN'' HOPKINS 
FIGURE 1 illustrates a rhythm figure along the lines
of “Boogie Chillen’.” Though written in 4/4, this figure is played with
a triplet, or swing-eighths, feel, which means that notes indicated as
pairs of eighth notes are actually sounded as a quarter note followed by
an eighth note within a triplet bracket.
One of the fascinating aspects of Hooker’s open A playing was that he
often used only two primary chords, the “I” (one) and the “IV” (four),
forgoing the use of a “V” (five) chord that is common to the majority of
blues music. In open A tuning, Hooker would use a standard C “cowboy”
chord grip as his four chord, which yields an unusual Dadd9/C sound, as
illustrated in FIGURE 2.
Combining open strings with single-note riffs is a central element of
Hooker’s style, made more effective with fingerpicking. FIGURE 6,
inspired by “Crawling Kingsnake,” and FIGURE 7, a nod to “Tease Me,”
offer a few more examples of how Hooker would combine a catchy melody
with an insistent root-note, open-string pedal tone.
