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Lightnin' Hopkins | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Samuel John Hopkins |
| Born | (1912-03-15)March 15, 1912 Centerville, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | January 30, 1982(1982-01-30) (aged 69) Houston, Texas, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1946–1982 |
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Samuel John "Lightnin'"Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982)[1] was an Americancountry blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist fromCenterville, Texas. In 2010,Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.[2]
ThemusicologistRobert "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] He influencedTownes Van Zandt,Hank Williams, Jr., and a generation of blues musicians such asStevie Ray Vaughan, whose Grammy-nominated song "Rude Mood" was directly inspired by the Texan's song "Hopkins' Sky Hop".[4][5] In his own lifetime, Hopkins was one of the initial inductees in 1980 to theBlues Hall of Fame.[6]
Hopkins was born inCenterville, Texas.[7] As a child, he was immersed in the sounds of theblues. He developed a deep appreciation for the music at the age of eight, when he metBlind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic inBuffalo, Texas.[8] He went on to learn from his distant older cousin, the country blues singerAlger "Texas" Alexander;[8] Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitaristFrankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.[9] Hopkins began accompanying Jefferson on guitar at informal church gatherings. Jefferson reputedly never let anyone play with him except Hopkins, and Hopkins learned much from Jefferson at these gatherings.
In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm, but why he was imprisoned is unknown.[8] 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.[3]
Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946.[3] While singing on Dowling Street in Houston'sThird Ward, which would become his home base, he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum ofAladdin Records, based inLos Angeles.[8] 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.[10] An Aladdin executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder".[11]
Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947.[10] He returned to Houston and began recording forGold Star Records.[10] In the late 1940s and 1950s he rarely performed outside Texas, only occasionally traveling to theMidwest and theEast for recording sessions and concert appearances.[citation needed] He performed regularly at nightclubs in and around Houston, particularly on Dowling Street, where he had been discovered by Aladdin.[3] He recorded thehit records "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" atSugarHill Recording Studios in Houston.[10] By the mid- to late 1950s, his prodigious output of high-quality recordings had gained him a following amongAfrican Americans and blues aficionados.[11]
In 1959, the blues researcherRobert "Mack" McCormick contacted Hopkins, hoping to bring him to the attention of a broader musical audience engaged in thefolk revival.[8] McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then inCalifornia. He made his debut atCarnegie Hall on October 14, 1960, alongsideJoan Baez andPete Seeger, performing the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep". In 1960, he signed withTradition Records. The recordings which followed included his song "Mojo Hand" in 1962.[10]
In 1968, Hopkins recorded the albumFree Form Patterns, backed by the rhythm section of thepsychedelic rock band13th Floor Elevators.[10] Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, he released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at majorfolk music festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally.[11] He toured extensively in the United States[3] and played a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.[citation needed]
Hopkins was Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years. He recorded more albums than any other blues musician.[3] Hopkins was one of the initial inductees to theBlues Hall of Fame in 1980.[12]
Hopkins died ofesophageal cancer in Houston on January 30, 1982, at the age of 69.[10] His obituary in theNew York Times described him as "one of the great country blues singers and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players".[13] Hopkins is buried at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston, Texas.[14]
A statue of Hopkins, unveiled in 2003, sits inCrockett, Texas.[15] His Gibson J-160e "hollowbox" is on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inCleveland,Ohio, and his Guild Starfire at theNational Museum of African American History and Culture inWashington, D.C., both on loan from the Joe Kessler Collection.[16]
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Hopkins's style was born from spending many hours playing informally without a backing band. His distinctivefingerstyle technique often included playing, in effect,bass,rhythm,lead, andpercussion at the same time.[citation needed] He played both "alternating" and "monotonic" bass styles incorporating imaginative, often chromaticturnarounds and single-note lead lines. Tapping or slapping the body of his guitar added rhythmic accompaniment.[citation needed]
Much of Hopkins's music follows the standard12-bar blues template, but his phrasing was free and loose. Many of his songs were in thetalking 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. He often referred to himself as "Po' Lightnin'" in his songs when talking about himself or referring to himself as the protagonist of the song. This is also the name of one of his albums. Many of his songs are filled withdouble 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]
WithSonny Terry
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