Harding "Hop" Wilson (April 27, 1921 – August 27, 1975) was an American

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900 ...

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

player. Wilson gained the nickname "Hop" as a devolution of "Harp" due to his constant playing of a harmonica as a child. His low sounding playing gave several of his tracks, even "Merry Christmas Darling", a morose, disillusioned feel.

Early life

Wilson was born in

Grapeland, Texas Grapeland is a city in Houston County, Texas, United States. Its population was 1,465 as of the 2020 census. Geography Grapeland is located at (31.491726, –95.480213). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area ...

in 1921, learning to play guitar and harmonica at an early age. Acquiring his first

sometime between the age of 12 and 18, Wilson performed at various

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

clubs. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and became a private first class. After serving in the Army, Wilson decided to pursue a musical career.

Music career

Wilson began his career performing with Ivory Lee Semien in the 1950s, recording tracks in 1957 for

Goldband Records Goldband Records is an American record label based in Lake Charles, Louisiana, founded in 1945 and best known for its Cajun and R&B recordings in the 1950s and 1960s. Its founder, Eddie Shuler, claimed "the record business is nearly always 90% hy ...

in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He was described as having "absorbed not only the black Texas blues as sung and played by the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson but also the heavily amplified, often wildly distorted, steel guitar sounds of the region's white Western Swing bands." In 1960, Wilson signed with Ivory Records in Houston. Wilson led recording sessions, but despised touring, and only played locally until his death in Houston in 1975.

Influence

While Wilson's recording career has been characterized as "slight", he did have an influence on a variety of musicians, including

Ron Wood Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

, who stated in 1994 "There's another guitar player called Hop Wilson. I got songs that I wrote like 'Black Limousine' from him, those kinds of licks". Peter Green, founder of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

, interviewed in 2007 discussing his favourite blues artists, stated "then there's Hop Wilson, a slide guitar player from Houston who used a twin-neck lap steel. He recorded a couple of singles calling himself Pap Hop, and wrote the song Black Cat Bone. I love his album Texas Steel Guitar Flash." Wilson's song "My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone" was recorded by

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

Johnny Copeland John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, Cop ...

and

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

as "Black Cat Bone" on their 1985 combined release ''

Showdown! ''Showdown!'' is a collaborative blues album by guitarists Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland, released in 1985 through Alligator Records. The album is mostly made of original material, with cover versions of songs like T-Bone Walk ...

'' released through

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the ''Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using hi ...

. Their recording features a spoken introduction where Copeland and Collins discussed Wilson starred by Copeland as follows: Black Cat Bone has since become a popular blues standard and has been recorded by numerous contemporary blues artists including

Matt Schofield Matt Schofield (born 21 August 1977, Manchester, England) is an English blues guitarist and singer. His band, the Matt Schofield Trio, play their own material, a blend of blues, funk and jazz, as well as covers of blues classics such as Albert ...

, The Nimmo Brothers and Philipp Fankhauser.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Hop 1921 births 1975 deaths Electric blues musicians Soul-blues musicians American blues guitarists American male guitarists African-American guitarists Texas blues musicians 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Texas People from Grapeland, Texas 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians United States Army soldiers