Lightnin' Hopkins -Shootin’ Fire - April 11, 1969

Lightnin' Hopkins -Shootin’ Fire - April 11, 1969 - Cicadelic Records

A release of the legendary, and iconic Lightnin’ Hopkins that includes previously unissued studio recordings should be of interest to anyone that calls themselves a blues lover. Cicadelic Records has is- sued “Shootin’ Fire - April 11, 1969” which contains 18 tracks from that date and two recorded in August 1961. 

The original recordings were produced by Roy Ames and some selections have been issued with bass and drums mixed too high and the guitar lead too low with excessive reverb to make Lightnin’ sound con- temporary. This release has re-mixed the four track originals without the previous studio misjudgments. Accompanying Hopkins on these recordings are Cedric Hayward on piano, Lawrence Evans on bass and Ben Turner on drums.  

The blues is on Lightnin’s mind, as he says before launching into the opening track, “Born In The Bottom,” a semi-autobiographical number as he was born in Warren’s Bottom, Texas, although there are times he wished he was born dead. It is a pretty powerful performance with his spoken interludes and familiar biting guitar. It sets the pace for 77 minutes of deep Texas blues. “Rainy Day in Houston” is a similarly paced performance as Lightning sings that if it keeps on raining, papa can’t make no time. And when he tells this woman who is not paying him no mind, but “A Man Like Me Is Hard To Find.” Lightning can be hard to back with his tempo shifts and occasionally stretching verses beyond 12 bars, but the trio is solid on this moving performance. 

One issue for more casual listeners may be the predominance of similarly tempo-ed slow blues, but he does pick up the pace on “Movin’ On Out,” as he will move early, so people won’t see him make his way. The changes of this suggest “What’d I Say,” although the performance is a bit more measured. “Shinin’ Moon” is a theme Hopkins recorded before as he sings about the shining look pretty, shine down through the trees as he can see his baby when she don’t see him with some impressive guitar. “Feel Like Ballin’ The Jack” was originally recorded for Aladdin as “Feel So Bad,” and it is Lightnin’s thinly disguised rendition of BigBill’s classic “I Feel So Good.”

Lightnin’s sense of humor is manifest on ”Stinkin’ Foot,“ as he tells his lady to put her shoes on, while on ”December 7, 1941“ Lightning sings about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor over a quarter century after the fact. ”My Baby Ain’t Got No Shoes,” set to the ”This Train/My Babe“ melody, deals with the theme of poverty and deprivation as his baby also has no place to go, and is followed by a slow blues with a similar theme ”My Baby Was Crying For Bread,“ as he sings she has taken all his money and threw it all away so, it ain’t right the baby crying. ”My Little Darling“ is Lightnin’s reworking of the Cecil Gant ballad ”I Wonder,“ while a lively instrumental ”Go Ahead“ segues into ”Battle Hymn of the Republic.“ Similarly an alternate (Lightnin’ rehearsing with the bassist) of “Movin’ On Out” segues into “When the Saints Going Marchin’ In.” 

The two last musical performances here, “Baby Please Don’t Do Me Wrong” and “Good As Old Time Religion,” are from April, 1961 and are strong performances with good piano and rhythm. The album closes with a brief “I’m Shooting Fire.” where he plays a few riffs but explains why musicians have a tough time playing with him. The liner booklet gives some overview of the music and the circumstances of the recording along with photograph of the recording contract and cancelled checks. Some of the comments on the songs are a bit superficial, and a couple of performance sound not quite finished, but this is certainly a welcome addition to Hopkins’ very extensive discography. Musically, he rarely disappoints and that is the case in this reissue of down-home Texas blues. 

I purchased this CD. This review appeared in the July-August 2016 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 367). Here is Lightnin' performing "Stinkin' Foot."

Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969

Various Artists
Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969
Third Man Records

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, Third Man Records has issued a both LP and CD releases. They collect 24 songs by such blues legends as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. This release is the first-ever release of music recorded live at this landmark event, except the Magic Sam track that was issued on Delmark.

John Fishel recorded the Festival except for Son House's performance which Jeff Todd Titon did. In the accompanying book to the deluxe LP edition (I am not sure what is included with the CDs), it is stated "These recordings were stored in Jim Fishel's basement and have remained largely unheard for 50 years. In preparing this compilation, we treated the original tapes to an all-analog restoration process – including speed correction and equalization – prior to digitization. However, these are field recordings in the literal sense of the term: audience chatter is audible and there are some technical problems that proved difficult to fix. Every effort has been made to improve the sound without sacrificing the integrity of the performances." In other words, these may not be the highest fidelity, but as good as one is likely to be able to get. Listening through headphones may be the best way to enjoy this music.

The two Ann Arbor Blues Festivals (the second one held in 1970) were signature events. All the succeeding blues festivals pale in comparison to these line-ups full of artists who are in the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis. There is a broad range of blues performances presented although there is a strong Chicago blues focus. The Chicago blues focus includes Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, and Charlie Musselwhite. Freddie King is not included at the request of the estate. At the request of the family, the Otis Rush performance is from a preview of the 1970 Festival. There are down-home performances from Roosevelt Sykes, Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Arthur Crudup, Big Joe Williams, and Shirley Griffith. Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell performed, but the tape for it was lost. Clifton Chenier is accompanied solely by his accordion.

Despite any audio blemishes, the music here is often spectacular starting with Roosevelt Sykes opening with "Dirty Mother For You." He humorously wondered how he got by the censors when Decca issued the original 78. Sykes was in great form here. Arthur Crudup sounded fine singing "So Glad You're Mine," It was followed by the blistering slide guitar of J.B. Hutto on "Too Much Alcohol," and then Jimmy Dawkins' driving rendition "I Wonder Why." With Lefty Dizz on guitar, Junior Wells does a rousing "Help Me (A Tribute To Sonny Boy Williamson)." B.B. King (with Onzy Matthews on organ and Sonny Freeman on drums) is terrific on "I've Got A Mind To Give Up Living." B.B. King requested Mississippi Fred McDowell play "John Henry," resulting in a terrific performance in McDowell's rhythmically charged style.

Pinetop Perkins had recently joined Muddy Waters' band when he performed a rousing rendition of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie." Members of Muddy's band backed him. Luther Allison may have been the most significant discovery of Ann Arbor, and his medley of "Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy," is outstanding. I had a chance to see Luther at an Ann Arbor Blues Festival benefit concert a few months later, and it was a revelation. On "Tu m' as promis l'amour (You Promised Me Love)," Clifton Chenier shows he does not need backing musician in delivering a superb blues in French. Howlin' Wolf's rendition of "Hard Luck Blues," is an extended performance with Hubert Sumlin playing brilliant guitar. Wolf's band included Lucky Lopez on guitar, Bobby Fields on sax, and Calvin' Fuzz' Jones on bass. Otis Rush tears through "So Many Roads, So Many Trains," with Ernest Gatewood on bass and Sam Lay on drums. These performances are on Vol. 1, which is also split into two LPs.

Muddy Waters was impressive with "Long Distance Call" with its fattening frogs for snakes ending. This was a typical set opener for him at the time and opens Vol. 2 (also on 2 LPs). His band included Paul Oscher on harmonica, Pinetop Perkins on piano, Sammy Lawhown and Pee Wee Madison on guitars, Sonny Wimberly on bass and Willie' Big Eyes' Smith on drums. Charlie Musselwhite follows with a terrific instrumental, "Movin' and Groovin'," which also includes some spectacular lap steel guitar from Freddie Roulette, and piano from Skip Rose on piano. His band also included Louis Myers on guitar, Dave Myers on bass and Fred Below on drums. It is followed by Magic Sam's "I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie)." Shirley Griffith reworked the Billy Eckstine-Earl Hines classic "Jelly Jelly Blues" into a solo blues.

Mojo Elem may be best known as Luther Allison's bass player. Here he delivers a rollicking rendition of J.B. Lenoir's "Mojo Boogie," with Luther Allison playing some boogie chords while Elem sings in a high tenor. T-Bone Walker, with Luther Allison's band, follows with a terrific lengthy, "Call It Stormy Monday." Allison trades guitar licks with Walker plus sings a line or two as well. Walker also plays guitar on Big Mama Thornton's terrific "Ball and Chain." After Big Joe Williams' propulsive delta blues "Juanita," Sam Lay does a solid "Key To The Highway," with Luther Tucker on guitar and Jeff Carp on harmonica.

Lay's band also backs Lightnin' Hopkins who complains about folks at the Festival messing around with mojos before launching into a rollicking "Mojo Hand." While titled "Off the Wall," James Cotton's energizing instrumental is the same song he recorded as "The Creeper," It displays his fabulous harmonica and showmanship. Son House's "Death Letter" is the closing performance. I believe Freddie King may have closed the Festival, but one wonders how anyone (even King) could follow the baring of the soul in Son's riveting performance.

John Fishel recollects in the book, "Shortly after the Festival, I started college at the University of Miami. As luck would have it, James Cotton came to town a few months later for a performance, and I was assigned to interview him for the local underground newspaper. I asked him what he thought about what had happened in Ann Arbor: 'Oh man, I think that's the best festival I ever went to in my life! Everybody was just ready for it." After 50 years, I can still say that's the case for me. I hope you're ready for it too and that these performances prove as revelatory today, inspiring a new generation of blues listeners, musicians, scholars, and fans. That's the legacy of the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival." That legacy is handsomely documented here.

I mentioned there is an accompanying book and the packaging includes many photos, an appreciation of the Festival and the story of the Festival, performer biographies with suggested further listening, and information on the artists and their accompanying musicians. One would be hard-pressed to think of a more significant historical blues release than this one. Get a copy for yourself and then get another as a gift for the blues lover in your holiday gift list.

I received a download to review from a publicist. This historic package is being released today, the 50th Anniversary of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. For more information visit https://thirdmanstore.com/records. Here is a promo video for this package.

 

Trouble In Mind (1926)

One of the most celebrated blues of all time is Richard Jones' "Trouble in Mind." Here is the celebrated original recording that featured Jones piano and the cornet of Louis Armstrong. It was a recording that Armstrong celebrated being part of and redid this for his musical autobiography in 1957 which he introduced.

One of my favorite recordings of this is Dinah Washington's 1952 Mercury recording with Ben Webster taking the tenor sax solo.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of many who put their own stamp on this classic.

Here is Lightnin' Hopkins putting his distinctive touch to this.

It is a song that has become a staple of American music. Here is Merle Haggard doing a Western Swing based rendition. Bob Wills, a major influence on Merle, recorded this years before.

Here is Big Bill Broonzy.

Here is B.B. King performing it. Sounds like one of his many recordings for the Bihari Brothers in the 1950s or early 1960s with probably a Maxwell Davis arrangement.

Here is the legendary Sam Cooke's take on this classic.

Finally the greatly neglected Georgia White

Hope you enjoyed this look at a blues classic and some of its interpretations.

A Playlist of Christmas Blues Recordings

Blues (and Jazz) artists have been recording blues about the holidays almost as long as such music has been recorded. Here are a few gems to help celebrate the holiday. Here Blind Lemon Jefferson sings Christmas Eve Blues.

Here is Charlie Jordan singing Christmas Christmas Blues and that is (unless I am deaf) the Devil's Son-in-Law, Peetie Wheatstraw on piano.

And now the great Blind Blake singing Lonesome Christmas Blues.

Moving a head a few decades we get the second Sonny Boy Williamson's, Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues.

Lightnin' Hopkins gives his take on Merry Christmas.

Now Freddie King has Christmas Tears.

But Eddie C. Campbell has found out that Santa's Messin' With the Kid.

But Denise Lasalle says that Santa's Got the Christmas Blues.

This is my favorite Louis Armstrong Christmas song, 'Zat You, Santa Claus?

No Charles Brown today (I will hold his holiday songs for Christmas Day itself. As Marvn Sease say, may you have  a Funky Christmas.

Lightnin' Hopkins Complete Aladdin and Prestige/Bluesville Recordings

EMI has a valuable reissue of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ earliest recordings in the two compact disc set, The Complete Aladdin Recordings. Containing 43 recordings over two compact discs, these recordings include Lightnin’s November 1946 recordings made with pianist Wilson “Thunder” Smith in Los Angeles including what would be such standard themes like Katie May and That Mean Old Twister. Hopkins’ second Aladdin session produced a couple of classics, his own Short Haired Woman (“I don’t want no woman who’s hair is shorter than mine.”), while Thunder Smith handled the vocal on Big Mama Jump, a theme that Hopkins would explore in later years. One of the real surprises of the early sessions is a raucous, rocking version of Tampa Red’s Let Me Play With Your Poodle. While the first thirteen selections pair Thunder and Lightnin’, the remaining 28 recordings (from November 1947 and February 1948 are solo performances which include some very distinctive treatments of other artists’ themes (although credited to Lightnin’ like You’re Not Goin’ to Worry My Life No More, adaptations of traditional Texas blues themes like J.T. Smith’s Howling Wolf, and his own unique guitar instrumentals like Lightnin’s Boogie. In part because of the duets with Thunder Smith, I found the first of the two discs to be the easiest to sit through. However, there can be little fault with any of the performances, and one of the valuable reissues of Hopkins’ early recordings.

Another Lightnin’ Hopkins compact disc of great note is The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Recordings. This is a seven compact disc set with a booklet by Sam Charters that collects 111 recordings on six discs along with a seventh disc containing eight spoken excerpts from an interview that Charters conducted in which Hopkins recalled his early days and his influences. Included are the contents of eleven albums and a previously unissued 1964 concert at Swarthmore College.

The earliest recordings here date from the same time as Lightnin’s Candid recordings, while the latest date from 1964, and the sessions find him in a range of settings including two solo concerts; a session with Sonny Terry, bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Belton Evans; sessions with longtime Houston associates Harpist Billy Bizor, barrelhouse pianist Buster Pickens, bassist Donald Cooks and drummer Spider Kirkpatrick; and sessions on which the rhythm section was overdub. There is a startling range of material here from Ain’t It Crazy (the same song as Mighty Crazy for Candid), Back to New Orleans and/or Baby Please Don’’t Go), Green Onion, Little Sister’s Boogie, Katie Mae, Take Me Back, You Is One Black Rat, My Babe, Mean Old Frisco, Me and Ray Charles, Rocky Mountain Blues, I was Standing on 75 Highway, Mojo Hand. Included are some of Lightnin’s songs where he conjured up material on current events like Happy Blues for John Glenn.

There are many very fine performances, although some of the recordings with a rhythm section sound somewhat ordinary, and I would be hard pressed to find many recordings that rank with the very best of his recordings. Yet the sheer breadth of the material here, all imbued with his personal stamp as a blues singer and guitarist, make this a most highly recommended boxed set that should hopefully still be in the better local record stores. They can always order it for you.

This review originally appeared in the December 1992 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 177) and I likely received review copies from the record companies. Both sets are available as downloads and can be obtained as used.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. here are a few videos for you to enjoy.

From Lightnin' Hopkins

and from Blind Lemon Jefferson

and from Charlie Jordan

and Lonnie Johnson

and a little Charles Brown

and from Roy Milton a New Years Resolution

And let us remember auld lang syne

First Bobby Timmons with the late Butch Warren on bass

Next Jim Cullen

and Dejan's Olympia Brass Band

and finally Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians

Down Home Blues Classics: Texas 1946-1954

Various
Down Home Blues Classics: Texas 1946-1954
Boulevard Vintage

A four CD European Public Domain reissue of Texas down home blues has just been re-released after being unavailable for several years. This is one of a series of reissues that makes available some terrific 'country' blues from the years following the end of World War II. Including a booklet from blues scholar Neil Slavin, the first disc is devoted to 25 of the finest early recordings of Lightnin' Hopkins including classics like "Katie Mae," "Short haired Woman," "Let Me Play With Your Poodle," "Tim Moore's Farm," and "One Kind Favor." The other three discs include selections from Frankie Lee Sims, Mercy Dee, Lil' Son Jackson, Clarence Garlow, Texas Alexander, Smokey Hogg and many others. I note that the fabulous 4 disc set devoted to early Chicago postwar blues is also available.

I purchased this CD. This is one of a number of short reviews I have written for the 2015 Holiday Gift Guide edition of Jazz & Blues Report. Here is a performance by Smokey Hogg of "Worried Blues," to give a sample of what is on this compilation.

 

Blues From Elmo Texas With Henry Qualls

Here is a review that likely appeared in the DC Blues Calendar. It was an excellent recording that Chuck Nevitt, a Dallas, Texas blues lover produced for his Dallas Blues Society label. I purchased my copy and this is still available. It is still in print. Blue Beat Music still shows it in print, but it also available from other sources including ebay. I am not sure whether the contact information for Dallas Blues Society Records is still good. Chuck still participates in the Blues-L internet list.

Those interested in down home blues will find a full plate on the Dallas Blues Society's wonderful release by Henry Qualls, Blues From Elmo, Texas. Backed by a sympathetic trio that includes rhythm guitarist Hash Brown's steady work, Qualls is featured on a variety of songs that include several classics associated with other Texas blues greats like Lightnin' Hopkins (Shotgun Blues) and Little Son Jackson (Rockin' and Rollin' aka as Rock Me), an instrumental rendition of Blind Willie Johnson's Motherless Children, along with his rocking adaptation of the traditional Long Gone. 

When he turns the old Newbeats hit, Bread and Butter, into a stomping blues or tears into an instrumental like The Elmo Stomp, Qualls and his group gets a rocking groove going that suggests some of the energy of a Hound Dog Taylor, though his band is a bit less prominent than Taylor's band, the House Rockers. He more than ably covers Jimmy Reed's Can't Stand to See You Go along with Lowell Fulson's Reconsider Baby while his slide playing is moving on the instrumental Death is Moving Across the World. 

Qualls' slightly gravelly singing certainly helps make the lyrics standout, while his deliberate, considered playing is quite effective. This album is a gem. And those wanting to hear him first might check out the four songs Qualls has on the Cannonball collection, Dallas Blues collection. You may have to contact the Dallas Blues Society directly at P.O. Box 190406, Dallas Texas 75219 for information on how to obtain this [214-5212583] (I obtained my copy from Blue Beat Music {www.bluebeatmusic.com}.

Here is a video of Qualls performing Long Gone. Sorry the sound is a bit rough on the video.

Lightnin' Hopkins Did His Blues His Way

Alan Govenar’s 2010 biography, Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues (Chicago Review Press) detailed the career of one of the true blues legends. Issued in England on Ace Records around the time the biography was published was a double CD release of Hopkins’ recordings, “His Blues” that describes itself as a soundtrack to Govenar’s biography. It contains 44 selections from his earliest session for Aladdin Records with Wilson “Thunder” Smith on piano to 1969 sessions for Vault and Arhoolie.

The first disc covers 26 recordings from 1947-1959 and opens with the highly charged Lightnin’s Boogie, with spirited guitar boogie playing behind his forceful vocal and followed by another guitar boogie Jake Head Boogie, which is a slightly bit more restrained but again exhibits some of his trademark guitar runs he would employ over the next several decades of recordings. Katie Mae Blues is from his initial session with Thunder Smith’s piano joining Hopkins acoustic guitar and dry vocal, while Shotgun Blues, was a prototypical slow blues from Hopkins with his whisky coated vocals matched by his responsive single note guitar runs and echoes of this can be heard on his reworking of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Sugar Mama Blues. Other highlights on this first disc include his reworking of Funny Paper Smith’s Howlin’ Wolf Blues, the lively boogie reworking of Tampa Red’s salacious Play With Your Poodle, with terrific guitar; Zolo Go on which he plays organ to imitate an accordion as he sings about going to a zydeco dance; “Tim Moore’s Farm,” his first recording on the infamous Texas farm owner who mistreated his black workers; Short-Haired Woman a theme he would return to about not wanting any woman whose hair was shorter than his; Give Me Central 209, which was a hit for him; and the wild electric guitar instrumental “Hopkins’ Sky Hop.” The material derives from a variety of labels including Aladdin, Gold Star, RPM, Sittin’ In With, Decca, Herald, TNT and Tradition. “Ain’t No Monkey Man” is a previously unissued Specialty recording by Hopkins. This gives a pretty solid overview of Hopkins’ recordings for the commercial rhythm and blues market.

The second disc covers the period when Hopkins was discovered by the folk and blues revivals. Not that it ignores recordings made for the commercial market (Mojo Hand recorded for Bobby Robinson’s Fire label). The majority of the selections derive from recordings made by Mack McCormick for Prestige Bluesville or Chris Strachwitz for Arhoolie. Many were recorded in Hopkins’ hometown of Houston, while others in New York or California. Hopkins ability to spin a topical blues is illustrated by Happy Blues For John Glenn, with pianist Buster Pickens and bass and drums while for Arhoolie he recorded a lively Back at the Chicken Shack, with just drummer Spider Kilpatrick. A trio of topical blues included a new rendition of Tom Moore Blues and Slavery Time, and three live recordings are also heard including a Newport Folk Festival performance of Trouble in Mind. One disappointing aspect of this second disc is that it does not include several songs that would become staples of Hopkins’ performances such as Mr. Charlie, with his lengthy spoken introduction and stuttering effects in his vocals as well as Back Door Friend, his personalized rendition of a Tony Hollins recording. Given the limitations of two CDs, I might have substituted one or both for some of the Bluesville and Arhoolie recordings. This is not to fault the music, but rather indicate that it does not fully represent Hopkins’ repertoire or recordings.

Sound is generally quite good and full discographical information is provided. Alan Govenar’s liner notes use a timeline derived from his biography in which he discusses Hopkins’ life as well as the included recordings. It is perhaps unfortunate that their were a few significant omissions (at least to these ears) of the more recent recordings, but still this is a real good distillation of some of the best Lightnin’ Hopkins and a worthy soundtrack to the excellent Govenar biography.

This was a purchase. Here is Lightnin' performing Mojo Hand.

Phillip Walker Going Back Home

Its been way too long since Philip Walker had a new studio album. Delta Groove has just issued Going Back Home, that finds the Gulf Coast native and longtime West Coast bluesman in solid form. The strength of the disc is Walker’s characteristically strong vocals (with just a hint of sandpaper in his voice and his guitar playing which rock and swing at the same time.

Producer Randy Chortkoff has selected a solid backing band that includes guitarist Rusty Zinn, Jeff Turmes on bass (and sax for a few tracks, Richard Innes on drums as well as provided Walker with a diverse range of material from the pens of Percy Mayfield (the opening Lying Woman), Lowell Fulson (Mama Bring Your Clothes Back Home), Lightnin’ Hopkins (Don’t Think ‘Cause Your Pretty), his old friend Cornelius Greene aka Lonesome Sundown (Leave My Money Alone and If You See My Baby), Ray Charles (Blackjack), Champion Jack Dupree (Bad Blood), and Frankie Lee Sims (Walking With Frankie) along with several originals from Chortkoff (although Honey Stew is suggestive of a Lightnin Hopkins recording).

Eddie Snow’s Mean Mean Woman features an accompaniment derived from Junior Parker’s Mystery Train. The backing is a bit too upfront at times and the music loses some of its regional flavor with the somewhat anonymous groove. One wishes the rhythm section was not right on the beat at times such as on the two Lonesome Sundown blues where more of the laconic Excello groove would have been beneficial. The band might also have limbered up on some of the grooves of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ Jewel Recordings at times.

These are still very good recordings, with Walker first rate throughout and his take on Blackjack, Leave My Money Alone, Bad Blood and Walking With Frankie are particularly outstanding, and if not a perfect date, there is still plenty to enjoy.

This review appeared in the April 2007 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 292) and my review copy was sent by either Delta Groove or a publicist for them.  


Here is the late Phillip Walker in performance.

Alabama Slim's Down Home Blue & Lonesome Blues

Here is the latest installment in my series on small blues gems issued by the Music Maker Relief Foundation, Alabama Slim's "Blue & Lonesome" Slim was born Milton Frazier in Vance, Alabama in March, 1939. He grew up playing in juke joints before moving to New Orleans in 1965 and got jobs with a moving company and later making cooking oil before hooking up with his cousin Little Freddie King with whom he would jam ever so often. Drinking heavily for a period, he cleaned himself up in the 90's and resumed a close friendship with King. The pair have shared an album on Music Maker and Blue & Lonesome is a welcome solo disc by Slim who towers near 7 feet tall.


Slim is rooted in such artists as Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and especially John lee Hooker, which is made clear in his rendition of Fannie Mae that opens this up a duet with Freddie followed by a Hooker-styled rendition of Muddy Waters' Someday Baby, and then on the invigorating Old Folks Boogie, a take on Hooker's Boogie Chillum, and Junior Parker's Feeling Good. Ardie Dean adds some light percussion for this performance on which Slim's controlled performance adds to its appeal. "Weather Done Got Cloudy," is the first of several tracks featuring him with a Huntsville, Alabama band and is a nice brooding blues in a Hooker-ish vein which has lyrical allusions to "Checking on My Baby."


Ain't I Been to You is a one chord Hooker styled blues that would sound at home in the North Mississippi Hills with some biting guitar runs. Joined by Freddie, West Texas Blues, is a nice song showcasing Slim's restrained, pleading style. Two O'Clock in the Morning is a spare Texas styled blues based on Lowell Fulson's Three O'Clock in the Morning. There is a bit more modern flavor on Has Anybody Seen My Baby, which sounds like as Hooker interpreting a B.B. King blues, while "I Love My Guitar" is a Hooker-styled boogie as Slim tells his woman not to get hooked on him as he loves nothing but his guitar. The album closes with I'm Blue and Lonesome, a lazy Jimmy Reed blues interpreted in a manner that John Lee Hooker might have.


Alabama Slim has produced an entertaining collection of blues with strong evidence of the influence of John Lee Hooker. While one might not call this essential, it should appeal to fans of post-war, down-home, country blues. It certainly caught this reviewer's ear.


I received this from the Music Maker's Relief Foundation as a donor to that organization. Visit www.musicmaker.org for information on purchasing this and other recordings as well as contribute to help blues and other roots musicians.

Lightnin Hopkins Life and Music Celebrated by Alan Govenar

One of the blues most iconic artists, Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins, is the subject of a welcome new biography, “Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues” (Chicago Review Press), by writer and photographer Alan Govenar. Govenar has written a number of books including “Texas Blues : The Rise of a Contemporary Sound,” as well as a musical “Blind Lemon Blues,” that has been performed Off-Broadway.


Hopkins was celebrated during his life for his ability to spin songs seemingly out of the blue, for his sometimes acerbic commentary on people, the relationships between men and women and current events, while performing for two very different audiences, the urban working class folk that bought his commercial recordings and frequented the bars in Houston’s black community and the white audience that was first introduced to his music during the folk revival and later when he became one of the most respected performers on the blues circuit from the sixties through his death in 1982.



Hopkins was born in rural Centreville, Texas. At the time Texas was pretty racist, with lynchings happening far too frequently. In this world, life was rough and hard and often violent. Hopkins’ dad was shot to death over a card game when he was three. Shortly thereafter his oldest brother, John henry left because he would have killed the man who shot their dad. He grew up in a world of country suppers and square dances, and had to share in the farm work. he learned to play guitar as well as dance as a youngest and this enabled him to give up the hard life of farm work. Relying on interviews of those who knew the young Hopkins, as well as Hopkins’ own recollections (some were issued on one of the many recordings he made), Govenar shows the develop of the young artist who would spend time with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander. Alexander was a particularly important person for Hopkins and their travels together would be reflected in some of his repertoire.



Hopkins would settle into Houston whose Black Community had a varied night life ranging from the upscale El Dorado Ballroom Club to neighborhood bars for the working and country folks. It was the later venues that Lightnin’ would play at. To middle and upper-level residents of the Third Ward, he was likely invisible. Then he was discovered by Lola Cullum, who had discovered Amos Milburn and had taken the pianist out to California where he recorded for Aladdin Records in 1946. As a follow-up to Milburn’s success she brought Hopkins and pianist Wilson “Thunder’ Smith to record. While Hopkins played on Smith’s “Rocky Mountain Blues,”, Hopkins on acoustic guitar, SMith on piano and a drummer, he recorded “Katie Mae Blues,” and “Mean Old Twister.” It was at the session that Cullum nicknamed Hopkins Lightnin’. These recordings would start one of the most prolific recording careers in blues history and were unusual in the use of acoustic guitar, since Hopkins played electric on nearly every recording he made until he recorded during the folk revival when some producers insisted (based on some false notion of authenticity), that he play acoustic. Not all did so, as Chris Strachwitz who started Arhoolie Records in part because of Hopkins. Strachwitz had been a fan of Hopkins juke box recordings and would record Hopkins using electric guitar for the recordings that would be issued on Arhoolie as well as some he made for other labels such as Poppy (later reissued on Tomato).



Govenar tracks Hopkins’ recordings after his initial Aladdin sides, through he recordings at Bill Quinn’s studio for Gold Star and other labels, Bobby Shad, the Herald label and then Mack McCormick who was first to record Hopkins for the folk music market, followed by Samuel Charters, Strachwitz and others. Hopkins, like his contemporary John Lee Hooker, was one who would record for any label willing to pay him, and he insisted in being paid in cash which may relate to Hopkins having minimal education and essentially being illiterate as well as a general mistrust of whites. So he would insist on cash payments, and eschew royalties. Then he would complain he was underpaid by the record company, while asserting he received substantial cash payments.



Govenar traces Hopkins’ career as a recording artist and performing artist, noting the changing nature of those who booked and managed him. Mixed in are accounts of his performances including recollections of those who saw his performances and his differing persona for his two different audiences, who related to his music in fundamentally different fashions. The interaction between Lightnin’ and those watching him at the Third War neighborhood bars was far different from the restrained, but attentive white audiences that proved to much more financially lucrative. While Hopkins had a guarded personality, he does flesh out some of his personality as well as provides a cogent discussion of Lightnin’s songs and music, ranging from his ability to spin songs out of current events to his development of “Mr. Charlie,” which with his spoken introduction, became a staple of his performance.



“Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues” is a celebration of Hopkins’ life and music. There are a couple of minor factual errors. There is a reference to a performance at Toronto’s New Yorker Theatre which John Hammond opened as being in 1978, but unless this was a repeat booking, I am certain this show was in 1977 because I was living in Buffalo and went with my friend Paul to catch this show, one of the two chances I had to see him perform. In 1978 I was living in the New York area, and did not return to Toronto until 1984. Also Terry Dunn, the owner of Tramps, was remembered as a Texan but in fact was an Irish immigrant whose origins would be hard to miss. Still these are minor errors and do not detract from the invaluable biography Govenar has provided us.



In addition to extensive endnotes and a selected bibliography, Andrew Brown and Alan Balfour have contributed a fifty page discography of Hopkins extensive recording career which includes much new information including correcting the identity of the steel guitarist who recorded with Hopkins in 1949 for Gold Star. It was Hop Wilson, not Frankie Lee Sims as long suggested, who can be heard on “Jail House Blues,” and “‘T’ Model Blues.” In addition to Govenar’s narrative, this discography ensures that this will be the standard reference on Hopkins for years to come. In summary, this is an invaluable addition to the blues literature.



This was received as a review copy from publisher.