Birth of the Blues: Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins Part 2

By Hunter60



Read part 1 here

Apparently one of Hopkins relatives, his Uncle Lucien Hopkins recognized the talent in the young Sam and encouraged him to try Houston one more time. After resisting initially, Sam and Texas decided to give it another try and they moved to Houston. While playing one night on Dowling Street, they were spotted by Alladin producer Lola Anne Cullum who talked Sam into traveling to Los Angeles to record for the label. Hopkins, along with pianist Wilson "Thunder" Smith made the trip. According to the stories told by Hopkins, Texas Alexander was not invited along as he intimidated Cullum as he had just been released from prison.

The duo, Hopkins and Smith recorded twelve tracks for Alladin, and it was the producers at the record label that gave Hopkins his nickname of Lightnin' to sync up with the already aptly named "Thunder" Smith for his ferocious barrelhouse piano rolls.

The duo had a minor jukebox hit with "Katie Mae Blues" and "Short Haired Woman" but Hopkins was growing homesick for east Texas. He returned home in the late forties and did not venture too far away that often during the later part of the decade and throughout the fifties although he did once travel to New York City to record for Bob Shad in 1951 for a few singles that were released on the Jax and Sitting In With labels.

During the fifties the Chicago-style urban blues began to take root and interest in the country blues of players like Hopkins began to wane. With the decrease in interest in his style of blues, his recording opportunities slowly tapered off as well. But Hopkins kept himself busy playing to a steady fan base in the Houston area. When asked once why he didn't really change his style and move from Houston, he said "Here in Houston, I can be broke and hungry and walk out and someone will buy me a dinner. It ain't like that in a strange place where you don't know no one."

Although during the fifties Hopkins was relatively quiet on the national scene, based on his prodigious recording output, he was not forgotten. He had recorded so heavily during his heyday, Hopkins was never very far from the mind of the blues fan or scholar. In 1951 Houston folklorist Mack McCormick and blues writer Sam Charters started to track Hopkins down, first finding his guitar in a Houston area pawnshop. Eventually they tracked Hopkins down and Charters convinced Hopkins to record a disc for him with an offer of a bottle of gin. Charters, holding the microphone in his hand, switched it from the guitar to Hopkins mouth for the vocals. The resulting record Lightnin' Hopkins re-introduced him to a wider audience. Hopkins recorded a follow up the following month for the Tradition label.

Another incident that led to his re-emergence was a hootenanny held at Houston's Alley Theatre that headlined Hopkins. The concert went so well that two more shows were added. Shortly after that, Lightnin' Hopkins was being offered shows all over the country, culminating in a Carnegie Hall appearance on October 4th, 1960 that included such promising young artists as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger. He found himself being a part of the "discovery" of roots music in America, the same that had propelled Son House, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and others into the national spotlight.

Finally Sam Lightnin' Hopkins was a national and international star. His popularity during the sixties and seventies extended to Europe (although he rarely traveled across the Atlantic due to a fear of flying) and culminated in countless festival appearances. He also began again to record heavily as well as make several television appearances. Two documentary films were made about Hopkins: "The Sun's Gonna Shine" in 1967 and "The Blues According to Lightnin' Hopkins", released in 1968 (which won a Gold Hugo Award at the Chicago Film Festival in 1970).

In the mid-seventies, he began to slow down on his recordings after an auto accident put him in a neck brace and failing health kept him from leaving Houston for the most part. In his final years, Lightnin' Hopkins returned to where he started: playing the local Houston clubs. He died of esophageal cancer on January 30th, 1982.

But his legacy and influence can still be felt and heard. Stevie Ray Vaughn once said that he learned to play the guitar by playing Lightnin' Hopkins records and trying to play along. Jimi Hendrix is often quoted as saying that his interest in the blues was sparked when, as a child, he listened to Hopkins' records with his father. Canned Heat and The Jefferson Airplane touted him as their prime influence. And the accolades from other blues players are too numerous to mention.

Lightnin' Hopkins was a true blues man and perhaps the last of his kind. As noted, he had a fear of flying, refused to own a telephone and was known to turn down a $2000 a week tour to stay back in Houston playing in small clubs for $17 a night. He wouldn't sign recording contracts, opting instead to record straight up for cash (and giving up all of his royalty rights as well). But with his shades and his Cadillac, Lightnin' Hopkins was a respected man in Houston's Third Ward (which he refused to leave).

Blues archivist Jas Obrecht told this story of Hopkins: "A long time ago, Lightnin' was playing a local bar in Houston, and one of the frats came up and said 'Do you mind playing something by John Lee Hooker?" And he said 'I am Lightnin' Hopkins. I don't play nothing else.'" Hopkins remained true to what he always said he was; "A country boy moved to town".

And who can argue with that?