Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, and sometimes played piano. He was born in Centerville, Texas. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine listed him as number 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Background

Musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick said that Hopkins is "an example of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, showing its early form through a single person who combines words and music into one performance." Hopkins influenced musicians such as Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams, Jr., and blues artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan. Vaughan's Grammy-nominated song "Rude Mood" was directly inspired by Hopkins's song "Hopkins' Sky Hop." In 1980, Hopkins became one of the first people inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas. As a child, he was exposed to blues music. At age eight, he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas, which deepened his love for the music. He later learned from his distant cousin, country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander. Another cousin, Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, also played with him and recorded music together. Hopkins began playing guitar for Jefferson during informal church events. Jefferson reportedly only allowed Hopkins to perform with him, and Hopkins gained much knowledge from these experiences.

In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm. The reason for his imprisonment is not known. During his time, he worked with and supported singer, tap dancer, and drummer L.C. Williams.

Career

In the late 1930s, he moved to Houston with Alexander in an attempt to begin a music career there. By the early 1940s, he returned to Centerville, where he worked as a farm hand.

In 1946, he went back to Houston and sang on Dowling Street in the Third Ward, a place that would become his main location for performances. Lola Anne Cullum, a representative from Aladdin Records in Los Angeles, discovered him there. She encouraged him to travel to Los Angeles, where he played music with pianist Wilson Smith. Together, they recorded twelve songs during their first session in 1946. A manager from Aladdin Records believed their names needed more energy and renamed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder."

In 1947, Hopkins recorded more songs for Aladdin Records. He returned to Houston and began recording for Gold Star Records. He also played piano and guitar on L.C. Williams' first record, which was released the same year. Hopkins later worked with Williams on other recordings.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, he mostly performed in Texas, occasionally traveling to the Midwest and East for recording sessions and concerts. He often played at nightclubs in Houston, especially on Dowling Street, where he had been discovered by Aladdin Records. He recorded popular songs like "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid- to late 1950s, his many high-quality recordings had earned him a following among African Americans and blues fans.

In 1959, a blues researcher named Robert "Mack" McCormick contacted Hopkins, hoping to introduce him to a larger audience interested in folk music. McCormick first presented Hopkins to mixed audiences in Houston and later in California. In 1960, Hopkins performed at Carnegie Hall in New York alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, singing the spiritual song "Mary Don't You Weep." That same year, he signed with Tradition Records. His song "Mojo Hand" was recorded in 1962.

In 1968, Hopkins recorded an album called Free Form Patterns, backed by the rhythm section of the psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators. From the 1960s through the 1970s, he released one or two albums each year and toured, performing at major folk music festivals, folk clubs, and on college campuses in the United States and internationally. He traveled widely in the U.S. and completed a six-city tour in Japan in 1978.

Hopkins served as Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years. He recorded more albums than any other blues musician. He was one of the first people inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.

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." He is buried at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston, Texas.

A statue of Hopkins was unveiled in 2003 in Crockett, Texas. His Gibson J-160e "hollowbox" guitar is displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and his Guild Starfire guitar is on loan from the Joe Kessler Collection at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

Musical style

Hopkins's musical style developed from spending many hours playing guitar informally without a band. He used a special fingerstyle technique where he played the bass, rhythm, lead, and percussion parts all at once. He played both "alternating" and "monotonic" bass styles, which included creative, often complex turnarounds and single-note lead lines. He also tapped or slapped the body of his guitar to add rhythm.

Much of Hopkins's music followed the standard 12-bar blues structure, but his singing style was relaxed and not strictly following a set pattern. Many of his songs used the talking blues style, but he sang with strength and confidence. His lyrics described challenges of life in the segregated South, love problems, and other common blues themes. He often expressed these topics with humor and kindness. He frequently referred to himself as "Po' Lightnin'" in his songs, either when talking about himself or when he was the main character. This name also appeared on one of his albums. Many of his songs included double meanings, and he was known for humorous introductions to his songs.

Some of his songs carried warnings or negative predictions, such as "Fast Life Woman."

Discography

• Early Recordings (Arhoolie, 1946–1950 [1969]) – a collection of Gold Star recordings
• Early Recordings Vol. 2 (Arhoolie, 1946–1950 [1971]) – a collection of Gold Star releases
• Lightnin' Hopkins Strums the Blues (Score, 1946–1948 [1958]) – a collection of Aladdin releases
• Lightning Hopkins Sings the Blues (Crown, 1947–1951 [1961]) – a collection of RPM releases
• Last of the Great Blues Singers (Time, 1950–1951 [1960]) – a collection of Sittin' in With releases
• Lightnin' and the Blues (Herald, 1954 [1960]) – a collection of Herald releases

• The Rooster Crowed in England (77, 1959 [1960])
• Lightnin' Hopkins (Folkways, 1959) – reissued under the name The Roots of Lightnin' Hopkins
• Country Blues (Tradition, 1959)
• Autobiography in Blues (Tradition, 1960)
• Down South Summit Meetin' (World Pacific, 1960) with Brownie McGhee, Big Joe Williams, and Sonny Terry – reissued under the name Summit Meetin'
• Last Night Blues (Bluesville, 1960) with Sonny Terry
• Lightnin' (Bluesville, 1960)
• Lightnin' in New York (Candid, 1960)
• Mojo Hand (Fire, 1960 [1962])
• Blues in My Bottle (Bluesville, 1961)
• Blues Hoot (Horizon, 1961 [1963]) with Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry – reissued under the name Coffee House Blues
• On Stage (Imperial Records, [1962]) – reissued by Dolchess in 2013
• Lightnin' Sam Hopkins (Arhoolie, 1962)
• Walkin' This Road by Myself (Bluesville, 1962)
• Lightnin' and Co. (Bluesville, 1962)
• Smokes Like Lightning (Bluesville, 1962 [1963])
• Lightnin' Strikes (Vee-Jay, 1962)
• Hootin' the Blues (Prestige Folklore, 1962 [1965])
• Goin' Away (Bluesville, 1963)
• The Swarthmore Concert (Prestige, 1964 [1993])
• Down Home Blues (Bluesville, 1964)
• Soul Blues (Prestige, 1964 [1965])
• Lightning Hopkins with His Brothers Joel and John Henry / with Barbara Dane (Arhoolie, 1964 [1966])
• My Life in the Blues (Prestige, 1964 [1965])
• Live at the Bird Lounge (Guest Star, 1964)
• The King of the Blues (Pickwick, 1965) – reissued under the name Let's Work Awhile
• Blue Lightnin' (Jewel, 1965 [1967])
• Live at Newport (Vanguard, 1965 [2002])
• Lightnin' Strikes (Verve Folkways, 1965 [1966]) – reissued under the name Nothin' But the Blues
• Something Blue (Verve Folkways, 1967)
• Thats My Story (Polydor, 1965 [1970])
• Blues Festival Song & Dance (Arhoolie, 1967) – shared disc with Mance Lipscomb and Clifton Chenier
• Texas Blues Man (Arhoolie, 1967)
• Free Form Patterns (International Artists, 1968)
• Talkin' Some Sense (Jewel, 1968)
• Lightnin' Hopkins Strikes Again (Home Cooking, 1968 [1975])
• The Great Electric Show and Dance (Jewel, 1969)
• California Mudslide (and Earthquake) (Vault Records, 1969)
• Lightnin'! (Poppy, 1969) – rereleased on Arhoolie in 1993
• In the Key of Lightnin' (Tomato, 1969 [2002])
• Lightning Hopkins in Berkeley (Arhoolie, 1969 [1970])
• Po' Lightnin' (Arhoolie, 1961/1969 [1983])
• The Legacy of the Blues Vol. 12 (Sonet, 1974 [1977])
• New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 1976 (Island, 1977) – shared disc with various artists
• The Rising Sun Collection Vol. 9 (Just a Memory, 1977 [1996])
• Mighty Crazy (Catfish, 1980 [2002]) – shared disc with Big Mama Thornton
• The Rising Sun Collection (Just a Memory, 1980 [1996]) – shared disc with Louisiana Red, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee
• Forever (Paris Album, 1981 [1983])

• Sonny Is King (Bluesville, 1963)

Films

• The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1968), 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 (the movie's music included a song by Taj Mahal performing a version of Hopkins' "Needed Time")
• His song "Once a Gambler" appears in the soundtrack of the 2009 film Crazy Heart.

Books

• Mojo Hand: An Orphic Tale, by J.J. Phillips (Serpent's Tail), ISBN 978-1852421090.
• Lightnin' Hopkins: Blues