Lightnin' Hopkins - The Texas Blues man

Lightnin' Hopkins - Texas Blues man

Year 1969

Tracks
1 Mojo Hand 3:19
2 Cotton 6:00
3 Little Wail 2:59
4 Hurricane Betsy 5:55
5 Take Me Back Baby 2:57
6 Really Nothin' But The Blues 5:14
7 Guitar Lightnin' 4:21
8 Woke Up This Morning 4:31
9 Shake Yourself 4:19
10 California Showers 7:46
11 Goin' Out 3:02
12 Tom Moore Blues 4:57
13 I Would If I Could 3:15
14 At Home Blues 3:04
15 Watch My Fingers 2:45
16 Bud Russell Blues 4:28
17 Cut Me Out Baby 3:30

Born Sam John Hopkins in Centerville, Texas,[4] Hopkins' childhood was immersed in the sounds of the blues and he developed a deeper appreciation at the age of 8 when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas.[1] That day, Hopkins felt the blues was "in him" and went on to learn from his older (somewhat distant) cousin, country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander.[1] Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.[5] Hopkins began accompanying Blind Lemon Jefferson on guitar in informal church gatherings. Jefferson supposedly never let anyone play with him except for young Hopkins, who learned much from and was influenced greatly by Blind Lemon Jefferson thanks to these gatherings. In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm for an unknown offense.[1] In the late 1930s, Hopkins 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 St. in Houston's Third Ward (which would become his home base), he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum from the Los Angeles-based record label Aladdin Records.[1] She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles, where he accompanied pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first sessions in 1946. An Aladdin Records executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder".