Some Of My Favorite Lightnin' Hopkins

 

I first heard Lightnin' late one night in 1961, listening to my transistor radio that was under my pillow (so my parents wouldn't be able to hear it), on either WWRL a.k.a. "The Big RL" or WLIB, both stations' target audience, was African Americans in New York City.  The late night DJs were hipper than hip, funny and spoke in "Jive".  The station's formats were then current R&B, Soul, Blues and sometimes a little Jazz.  This was where I first heard B.B., Muddy, John Lee, Elmore, Wolf and many, many more Blues Artists.

What first struck me about Lightnin' was that his lyrics were fun; not as macho, one-dimensional and misogynistic as with many other blues guys.  The first time I heard "Katie May", with the line, "You know she walks just like she got oil wells in her backyard", the double entendre was not lost on my 14-year-old self, it literally made me laugh out loud, and wake my mother up, who yelled, "GO TO SLEEP, ALREADY!".  I also liked his style of guitar playing that's simultaneously loose, and yet somehow tight... AND with a guitar that's always in tune (which is not always the case, with others)!

During his lifetime, Lightnin' recorded 200 singles and 85 albums on over twenty different labels.  Due to such things as, while under contract to the Aladdin label, he cut records for the Goldstar label with the same songs. Things like that make collecting Lightnin' Hopkins records a complex problematic, and a daunting task to unravel.  I've encountered similar difficulties with John Lee Hooker.

Here are some of my favorites from Lightnin' Hopkins, all three have wonderful performances, and excellent audio.

'Lightnin' (The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins)'

Recorded for Prestige's Bluesville subsidiary in 1960,  'Lightnin' (The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins) is among the most rewarding acoustic dates Lightnin' delivered in the early '60s. It's a little like being in a small club with Lightnin' as he shares his experiences, insights and humor with you.

The session has an informal, relaxed quality with bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Belton Evans, both of whom play in an understated fashion and do their part to make this intimate setting successful. They also do a remarkable job of navigating Lightnin's irregular bar patterns and abrupt song endings.

You'd think the best place to record "Texas Blues", would be, well, in Texas.  But you'd be wrong, this was recorded in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on November 9, 1960, by (you guessed it) Rudy Van Gelder.

This was the first Lightnin' Hopkins I ever bought.

The freeload is a 24 bit/192khz vinyl rip of the Analogue Productions reissue from 2023 on180gram vinyl.

'Goin' Away'

On June 4, 1963, Lightnin' returned to Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herbie Lovelle, in tow.

Musicians today spend lots of money, and months of their time to try and produce something this profound.  And yet Lightnin' went into the studio, sat down and knocked it out in three hours on a Tuesday evening....live with no overdubs (or Auto-Tune).  Once again, the sensitive support of bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herbie Lovelle, are not befuddled by Lightnins' distinctive sense of "country time", unlike more than a few studio musicians, who came before and after.

The freeload is The freeload is a 24 bit/192khz vinyl rip of the Analogue Productions reissue from 2022 on180gram vinyl.

Broken Hearted Blues

These are the 1950–52 recordings done for the "Sittin In With" and "Jax" labels, that were both owned by Bobby Shad (Bobby worked with, Charlie Parker, Janis Joplin, Shelly Manne, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Haynes, Blue Mitchell and Ted Nugent [of all people], to name just a few). The song selection is strong, and the audio is phenomenal. The freeload is a copy of the SACD. For the freeloads, tell us about a bad storm (hurricane/tornado/tsunami/snow etc.) you've experienced.