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Biography
Other people|Sam Hopkins|Samuel Hopkins!Samuel HopkinsInfobox musical artist | name = Lightnin' Hopkins| image = Lightnin Hopkins by Jules Grandgagnage.jpg| caption = Lightnin' Hopkins by Jules Grandgagnage| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Sam John Hopkins| alias =| birth_date = Birth date|1912|03|15 Centerville, Texas , United States| death_date = death date and age|1982|01|30|1912|03|15 Houston , Texas , United States| origin =| instrument = Guitar | genre = Electric blues , country blues | occupation = Guitarist , singer-songwriter | years_active = 1946–1981| label = Aladdin Records (US)|Alladin , Modern Records|Modern / RPM Records (USA)|RPM , Gold Star Records|Gold Star , Sittin' in With/Jax, Mercury Records|Mercury , Decca Records|Decca , Herald Records|Herald , Folkways Records|Folkways , Pacific Jazz Records|World Pacific , Vee-Jay Records|Vee-Jay , Arhoolie Records|Arhoolie , Bluesville Records|Bluesville , Fire Records|Fire , Candid Records|Candid , Imperial Records|Imperial , Prestige Records|Prestige , Verve Records|Verve , Jewel Records (Shreveport record label)|Jewel | associated_acts =| website =| notable_instruments = Sam John Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins , was an American country blues singer , songwriter , guitarist and occasional pianist , from Houston , Texas . Rolling Stone magazine included Hopkins at number 71 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.cite web|url= http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time-19691231/lightnin-hopkins-19691231 |title=Lightnin' Hopkins & #124; Rolling Stone Music & #124; Lists |publisher=Rollingstone.com |date= |accessdate=2010-08-09
Robert "Mack" McCormick stated, "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".cite book | first= Tony | last= Russell | year= 1997 | title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray | edition= | publisher= Carlton Publishing Group|Carlton Books Limited | location= Dubai | page= 64 | isbn= 1-85868-255-X
Life
Born Sam John Hopkins in Centerville, Texas ,cite book |title=Woke Up This Mornin': Poetry of the Blues |last=Nicholas |first=A. X. |year=1973 |publisher= Bantam Books |page=87 Hopkins' childhood was immersed in the sounds of the blues and he developed a deeper appreciation at the age of 8 when he met BlindLemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas . 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 . Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist, Frankie Lee Sims , with whom he later recorded.cite web | url = Allmusic|class=artist|id=frankie-lee-sims-p125539/biography|pure_url=yes | title = Frankie Lee Sims | work = Allmusic | last = Dahl | first = Bill | accessdate = 2010-10-19 Hopkins began accompanying BlindLemon 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 BlindLemon Jefferson thanks to these gatherings. In the mid 1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm for an unknown offense. 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, Houston|Third Ward (which would become his home base) he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum from the Los Angeles based record label , Aladdin Records (US)|Aladdin Records . She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles where he accompanied pianist Wilson Smith. The duet (music)|duo sound recording and reproduction|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".
Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947. He returned to Houston and began recording for the Gold Star Records label. During the late 1940s and 1950s Hopkins rarely performed outside Texas. However, he recorded prolifically. Occasionally traveling to the Midwestern United States|Mid-West and Eastern United States for recording sessions and concert appearances. It has been estimated that he recorded between 800 and 1000 songs during his career. He performed regularly at nightclub|clubs in and around Houston, particularly in Dowling St. where he had first been discovered. He recorded his hit record|hits "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid to late 1950s his prodigious output of quality recordings had gained him a following among African American s and blues music Fan (person)|aficionados .
In 1959 Hopkins was contacted by Folkloristics|folklorist Robert "Mack" McCormick|Mack McCormick who hoped to bring him to the attention of the broader musical audience which was caught up in the Roots revival|folk revival . McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in California . Hopkins debuted at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960 appearing alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger performing the spiritual " Mary Don't You Weep ." In 1960, he signed to 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 psychedelic rock band (music)|band the 13th Floor Elevators . Through the 1960s and into the 1970s Hopkins released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major folk music|folk music festival|festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the United States|U.S. and internationally. He travelled widely in the United States, and overcame his fear of flying to join the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival ; visit Germany and the Netherlands 13 years later; and play a six-city tour of Japan in 1978. Lightnin' also influenced the great Townes Van Zandt and his music.
Filmmaker Les Blank captured the Texas troubadour's informal lifestyle most vividly in his 1967 film documentary|documentary , ''The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins .Allmusic|class=artist|id=p87808|pure_url=yes Allmusic biography
Houston's poetry|poet -in-residence for 35 years, Hopkins recorded more albums than any other bluesman.
Hopkins died of esophageal cancer in Houston January 30, 1982, at the age of 69. His New York Times Citation needed|date=April 2012 obituary named him as "one of the great country blues and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players."
A statue of Hopkins sits in Crockett, Texas .cite book | first= Tony | last= Russell | year= 1997 | title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray | edition= | publisher= Carlton Books Limited | location= Dubai | pages= 145–146 | isbn= 1-85868-255-X
Hopkins is referenced 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."
Style
Hopkins' style was born from spending many hours playing informally without a backing band. His distinctive fingerstyle playing often included playing, in effect, Bass guitar|bass , Rhythm guitar|rhythm , Lead guitar|lead , percussion , and vocal s, all at the same time. He played both "alternating" and "monotonic" bass styles incorporating imaginative, often chromatic Turnaround (music)|turnarounds and single note lead lines. Tapping or slapping the body of his guitar added rhythmic accompaniment.
Much of Hopkins' music follows the standard Twelve bar blues|12-bar blues template but his phrasing was very free and loose. Many of his songs were in the talking blues style, but he was a powerful and confident singer. Lyrically his songs chronicled the problems of life in the segregated south, bad luck in love and other usual subjects of the blues idiom. He did however deal with these subjects with humor and good nature. Many of his songs are filled with double entendre s and he was known for his humorous introductions.
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... "
Selected discography
1959 - ''Lightnin' Hopkins Strums the Blues (Score)
1999 - ''The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins (Rhino Records)
Films
''The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1969). Directed by Les Blank and Skip Gerson (Flower Films & Video).
''The Sun's Gonna Shine (1969). Directed by Les Blank with Skip Gerson (Flower Films & Video)
Sounder (1972). Directed by Martin Ritt, offers Hopkins singing "Jesus Will You Come By Here".
As of|2010, a film documentary on Hopkins was in production with Fastcut Films of Houston, entitled "Where Lightnin' Strikes".
His song "Once a Gambler" was featured on the soundtrack of the 2009 film Crazy Heart .
Books
Lightnin’ Hopkins: Blues Guitar Legend by Dan Bowden
Deep Down Hard Blues: Tribute to Lightnin by Sarah Ann West
''Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues by Alan Govenar (Chicago Review Press)
See also
List of blues musicians
Texas blues
Six Strings Down
References
Reflist
The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country & Western Music by Irwin Stambler and Grellun Landon, second edition. St. Martin's Press 1983. ISBN 0-312-24818-0
Liner notes to the CD Country Blues Ryko/ Tradition Records
External links
http://www.blues.org/halloffame/inductees.php4? YearId=25 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame Induction, 1980
http://www.campstreetcafe.com/HoustonChronicle.htm Houston Chronicle story about dedication of Lightnin' Hopkins statue
http://www.bigroadblues.com/features/lightnin.shtml Hopkins feature on Big Road Blues
http://www.campstreetcafe.com/HoustonChronicle.htm Campstreetcafe.com - accessed December 25 2007
http://www.activeguitar.com/lessons/guitar/507-1.asp Activeguitar.com - accessed December 25 2007
http://www.wherelightninstrikes.com/ "Where Lightnin Strikes" Documentary Film
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/01/obituaries/sam-lightnin-hopkins-69-blues-singer-and-guitarist.html/ New York Times obituary
Persondata | NAME = Hopkins, Lightnin' | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American country blues singer , songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist | DATE OF BIRTH = March 15, 1912 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Centerville, Texas , United States | DATE OF DEATH = January 30, 1982 | PLACE OF DEATH = Houston , Texas , United States DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Lightnin' Category:1912 births Category:1982 deaths Category:African American musicians Category:American blues guitarists Category:American blues musicians Category:Country blues singers Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Blues revival musicians Category:Texas blues musicians Category:Musicians from Houston, Texas Category:Modern Records artists Category:RPM Records artists Category:Gold Star Records artists Category:Imperial Records artists Category:Jewel Records artists Category:Fire Records artists Category:Deaths from cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Texas
