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Smokes Like Lightnin' Bluesville (Original Blues Classics) Recorded Jan 1962 - Feb 20, 1962 |
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Track Listing: Big Road Blues Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins
was born on March 15, 1912 in Centerville, Texas. In 1920, Hopkins met
and -- at age 8 -- played with the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson. For a short time, he later
became Jefferson's guide. Hopkins' cousin, the great Texas bluesman Texas Alexander, was another
influence as Hopkins played with Alexander. That partnership was broken up by Hopkins' time in
Houston's County Prison Farm during the 30s.
When Hopkins made his way to Houston's Third Ward in 1946, he was introduced to Lola Anne
Cullum, a talent scout who had pieced together deals with companies such as Alladin Records out
of Los Angeles. She paired up Hopkins with a piano player by the name of Wilson "Thunder"
Smith and came up with the name "Lightnin'" as an obvious match. It stuck.
Hopkins had no little success with Katie May, cut on November 9, 1946. After that came a series
on the Alladin label -- Shotgun Blues, Short Haired Woman, Abilene and Big Mama Jump. The blues
floodgate had opened. What followed was thirty plus years of albums on everything from small,
obscure labels to big ones. The list includes Modern/RPM, Gold Star, Mercury, Jax, Decca and
Herald. During this period he cut some of the most ferocious blues guitar mixed with what he told
me were "air songs," meaning those where he'd just pull the lyrics right out of the air
on the spot.
Hopkins' career faded until a folklorist by the name of Mack McCormick rediscovered Hopkins and
presented him under the growing label of "folk artist." It made no different to
Lightnin' what they called him, he played as he always had, working with Sam Charters on Folkway
Records in 1959. The groundbreaking solo album was recorded by Charters in Hopkins' apartment on a
borrowed guitar. Again, Hopkins' career was off and running "like a turkey through the
corn."
More albums than can be counted followed, including those on labels such as Candid, Arhoolie,
Prestige, Verve, Jewel, World Pacific, Bluesville, Fire and Vee-Jay. For an upfront fee, the
whiskey or gin flavored albums were often recorded by tiny, obscure one-person labels. Since
Hopkins had the gift of the air song, he had no shortage of material. The songs would range from
intense, deep tissue blues to some of the more surrealistic ever recorded as he reached for rhymes.
The archetypal story of Hopkins as a performer supposedly involved Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top,
then a young kid in a band around the corner from my band's garage -- The Moving Sidewalks.
Supposedly, Gibbons heard Hopkins play at a coffeehouse and muttered, "He doesn't even know
when to change chords." Hopkins was standing behind Gibbons, according to the story, and
leaned forward and surprised the teenager with, "Lightnin' change when Lightnin'
want to."
Indeed, Hopkins had a bag of licks and patterns that fit largely into two divisions --
slow E and Fast E (with an occasional venture into A). His rhythm and the chord changes go with
his feelings at that moment in time and, as such, made it difficult for other musicians to
follow. With a few exceptions, his solo recordings later in his life have that quirky sense to
them and work well as opposed to hired bands that became hopelessly entangled, to quote a Hopkins
song, "like a ball of twine."
Hopkins didn't do much of in the way of recording after 1974, his health fragile. I saw him
one night at the Jewish Community Center in Houston where he performed a concert for a small,
polite group in theater style seating. He played well, but the audience was polite and reserved.
A half hour into the concert, in came a relative of Hopkins' -- I believe it was an elderly
(even compared to Lightnin) uncle. The old man sat down on the front row and, with that, Hopkins
seemed to come alive. The audience seemed to wake up as well and it moved into a rollicking
evening.
Shortly later, Hopkins died in Houston on January 30, 1982.
Discography Related links: |
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"Since migrating from Cambridge,
Mass to Nashville some three decades ago, Mark Brine has carved out a strong
reputation as an uncompromising traditionalist on the country music scene which
has made him one of the elder statesmen of Americana."
-- Shaun Dale, Cosmik Debris Magazine
"I could listen to him sing all night long … he does a good job that boy does." -- Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree "A fine young man who I think has a great future." -- Hank Snow, Grand Ole Opry "Brine could easily have been added to the cast of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' without raising an eyebrow. He belongs to that group of artists whose individuality and quirkiness consign them to the periphery of what's commercially viable. But God bless him for not just being another cog in the musical wheel." -- James McSweeney, Flyin Shoes |
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"Brine writes wonderful story songs about
ordinary people and ordinary places. To tell these stories, Mark has a voice that is
as comfortable as a favourite coat."
-- Pete Smith, Country Music Round Up "I think what makes Mark Brine such a gifted songwriter/storyteller is the fact that he seems to be such an obvious fan of many genres of music. He's someone who is like a sponge when it comes to reintegrating influences into his own work." -- Gail Worley, Ink 19 "His career has pursued the path of a truly independent artist - someone who follows his soul and does things his own way … his ability to write and produce has made his name synonymous with quality." -- Doug Floyd, AltCountryTab.com ©2004 Mark Brine Music. All rights reserved. |