''Lightnin' Sam Hopkins'' is an album by blues musician

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its li ...

recorded in California in late 1961 and Texas in early 1962 and released on the

Arhoolie Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label that was run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was ...

label.Smithsonian Folkway Recordings: album details
accessed November 6, 2018

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar wh ...

stated: "This recording is one of the best attempts to combine the eccentric blues structures of Houston's Lightnin' Hopkins with some kind of band backup. ... The duets with drummer Spider Kilpatrick seemed a revelation at the time, as finally here was a musician who could follow Hopkins wherever he went, plus one providing a snappier beat that the guitarist could hang phrases of a bit more aggressive nature than usual on. ... these were instances where Hopkins took advantage of the group sound to play in a little bit different manner, and although these blues have a more set and normal blues structure, at least by Hopkins' standard, they work quite well and are recorded with quite a lot of impact".

Track listing

All compositions by Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins # "Meet You at the Chicken Shack" – 5:40 # "Once Was a Gambler" – 4:55 # "Speedin' Boogie" – 3:08 # "Ice Storm Blues" – 7:19 # "California Showers" – 7:49 # "Burnin' in L.A." – 4:31 # "Do the Boogie" – 1:50 # "Bald Headed Woman" – 3:50 # "Goin' Out" – 3:07 *Recorded at Sierra Sound Laboratories in Berkeley, California on November 26, 1961 (tracks 2, 3 & 6–9), at Chris Strachwitz' Apartment, Berkeley on December 2, 1961 (track 5), and at ACA Studios in Houston, Texas on January 23, 1962 (tracks 1 & 4)

Personnel

Performance

– guitar, vocals, piano *Gino Landry (tracks 2, 3 & 6–9) –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Spider Kilpatrick (tracks 1 & 4), Victor Leonard (tracks 2, 3 & 6–9) – drums

Production

Chris Strachwitz Christian Alexander Maria Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz (; July 1, 1931 – May 5, 2023) was a German-born American record label executive and record producer. He was the founder and president of Arhoolie Records, which he esta ...

– producer

References

{{Authority control Lightnin' Hopkins albums 1963 albums Arhoolie Records albums