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Jazz Articles about Lightnin' Hopkins

About Lightnin' Hopkins

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Texas blues singer/guitarist Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins could lay claim to the authentic blues, having worked in the cotton fields for years. He turned electric in the 1950s, and toggled between acoustic and electric guitar with the blues boom and folk revival of the 1960s, influencing everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan. But it is with the acoustic blues, soulful and heartfelt, that he forged his way in the 1940s, recording classic blues singles for a large number of ...

Album Review

Lightnin' Hopkins: King of Dowling Street

Read "King of Dowling Street" reviewed by Scott Gudell

by Scott Gudell
April 22, 2021

Lightnin' Hopkins was “Laidback, mildly mysterious and the epitome of street corner cool" according to informative liner notes. Well, there is a lot of Hopkins (1912--1982) music coming at you on The King of Dowling Street, a generous, smartly packaged three-disc, '100 proof' triple strength blues collection. Dowling Street was THE Houston street if you wanted to step out in style in the middle of the 20th century. Numerous regional and national musicians performed there, including Houston-based Hopkins ...

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Album Review

Lightnin' Hopkins: Straight Blues

by AAJ Staff
September 1, 1999

Cobbled together from three sessions, these sides have nothing in common – nothing but Lightnin’ and a mighty hard blues. He can sound weary, but not here: the strings bite and the notes sneak up, soft with a nasty edge. “Black Gal” has been cruel, but she’ll get hers: “You know, just like you treat poor Lightnin’/ Someone treat you the same way too.” The backing fits: bass string throbbing under twisting top notes. A lonely despair, and you hear ...