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."