Lightnin' Hopkins - Blues In My Bottle / Walkin This Road By Myself

BVLP 1045   Lightnin' Hopkins - Blues In My Bottle                     

Lightnin' Hopkins (g, vo)

Houston, TX, July 26, 1961

The late great Lightnin' Hopkins was one of the most natural of bluesmen, a poet who would often make up lyrics as he recorded. He was at his best when unaccompanied, as on this 1961 Prestige date. Though he usually played electric guitar, the Texas blues titan performed on this release with an acoustic, and the result is most rewarding. Tunes include "Goin' to Dallas to See My Pony Run" and "Buddy Brown's Blues."  - Roundup Newsletter/AMG

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BVLP 1057   Lightnin' Hopkins - Walkin' This Road By Myself

Lightnin' Hopkins (g, vo)

Houston, TX, July 7, 1961

Billy Bizor (hca, vo) Lightnin' Hopkins (g, vo) Spider Kilpatrick (d)

Houston, TX, February 17, 1962

Buster Pickens (p) Lightnin' Hopkins (g, vo) Donald Cooks (b) Spider Kilpatrick (d)

Houston, TX, February 20, 1962

Lightnin' Hopkins had a hard and fast approach to dealing with the abundance of record labels he recorded for during his career. The irascible bluesman would show up at the session in question but would refuse to play a note until he was paid his fee upfront. Once paid and satisfied, he'd unpack his stock set of boogie blues riffs and pretty much improvise songs on the spot until he'd fulfilled his agreed upon quota. Then he would leave. This system led to an awful lot of similarly constructed and executed throwaway tracks, but Hopkins had a special gift for personalizing the blues that came through in the best of these improvised songs, and a few gems always showed up in the process. This disc features Hopkins with drummer Spider Kilpatrick, harmonica player Billy Bizor, and pianist Buster Pickens,  produced by Kenneth S. Goldstein and Mack McCormick. The end result is a pleasant representation of what Hopkins did both as a solo act, when he was arguably at his best, and with a small, sympathetic combo. - Steve Leggett/AMG