One of my favorite blues guys, hell one of my favorite music guys cuts a good one here. Just a simple country blues played by one of the best. Guitar and vocals. That’s it. But it sound like a lot more to me. About a minute in Hopkins plays a little lick just to show off. I love it. Accompanying himself and having a good time and we have a good time with him. CB only wishes he was this musical. I’d stay in this groove all day.
I came by Sam Hopkins through Phil Alvin from the Blasters who I think came by him from Bob “Bear” Hite (walking blues jukebox) from Canned Heat. This is just a stripped down rockin’ little tune that gives you a taste of Lightnin’ Hopkins. I like his playing and I like his singing especially on this cut.
They don’t make them like Lightnin’ anymore. He’s in CB’s cigar guy hall of fame. Good thing we have these recordings. Sing it Sam and fan it and keep it cool.
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A guy that B.B. King often spoke of. B.B was more a fan of his contemporaries or the guys who came before him than the guys who followed him. Here’s a video of him that starts out with Jimmie Vaughan and B.B paying tribute. “You got to fan it.”
https://keepingthebluesalive.org/the-greatness-of-lightnin-hopkins/
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That is the kind of music doc I’ll watch all day. When I have B.B. and Jimmie confirm my opinion I’m in pretty good company! That makes CB feel pretty damn good.
I’ve seen a lot of Hopkins clips but not the first one on that clip. Fantastic. The last one with the hat is very cool. I have one just like it.
Hearing Vaughn play those licks sure keeps sam alive.
Last thing. There’s a short doc on Lightnin called ‘The Blues According To LH’ by Les Blank (who you’ll recognize). Like B.B. said “no sugar on it”.
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The Folkways album! Of course you’re a Hopkins fan too! This is the one where the producer borrowed an acoustic guitar, then headed to Lightnin’s apartment with a tape recorder and a bottle of gin. Recorded it on the spot in his apartment. Check out Live at Newport. Not only is it an excellent off the cuff show, you get to hear Mike Bloomfield give him pep talk!
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I will check it out. I’ve seen a few things on Lightnin. Check out that ‘Blues According To LH’ I think you’ll like. Talk about off the “cuff”. It is blue and gritty. Mars gets around the dial on his music journey. Thumbs up from CB (whatever that’s worth?)
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Amazing stuff. Proper good blues here and some of the first blues I explored.
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Hopkins really is one of my favorites. He even got a mention in the “Country Music” doc. I think it was when they were talking about Townes.
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Townes was more than a fan, eh? I remember reading that they got on pretty well – Townes playing loads of his stuff. There are a few tunes on the recent Townes album, actually.
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Thanks for that. I will check it out. It’s cool when artists I dig are musically connected. I mentioned how Burns connected the dots on one of the episodes and it ended up at Townes.
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Yeah – a lot of the artists I like are connected in some way. Especially the stuff I found in the 90s and early 2000s.
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