Search - Lightnin Hopkins :: Country Blues

Country Blues Texas Style

S. Babcock | Dearborn, MI | 07/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good example and sample of Lightnin' Hopkins. My guitar teacher uses it to teach me acoustic blues in the free form style that is not a strict 12 bar form. A strong shuffle pattern with free form blues runs predominate.



You will hear some of this in Stevie Ray Vaughn's music."

Blues you can see, not just feel

novicaine19 | United States | 01/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hopkins is usually referred to as the epitome of Texas blues, and without having listened to any of his contemporaries in this regard, I can still see why he is labeled as such. This album has tracks with dark, bold sounds and a delivery unlike Delta bluesmen that put you out on the desolate back country or in the hard work place. Coupled with the words, your mind is focused on the most basic and essential traits of life for a black man in the hard living conditions of Texas, and the raw emotion evoked by these circumstances. In an interesting contrast, some of his songs have a very lighthearted feel to them, but the lyrics mention nothing reminiscent of high life, thereby emphasizing the emptiness of Hopkins' "thesis of blues", for lack of a better phrase."

Blues 101

Kavity Killer | denver, colorado United States | 10/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, Lightnin' is the man. Now that we've established that, lets go on to this particular album. ANY Lightnin' album is 5 stars compared to most other things, but this one is really cool. Lightnin' is just messing around here, playing for some folky geek who brought a tape recorder over to his house, but listen to what he plays! This is the blues itself concentrated and fermented and stripped down to its most essential, most direct, most powerful phrases. Sure, its Lightnin's blues, but this is pretty much what its ALL about, blues, rock and roll, jazz, R&B, this is the roots of it all, right here. So why build all that other stuff onto it? Why go digital, why add effects, why even use a studio for heaven's sake? This is 10 times better and 10 times simpler than all that...one man, one guitar, an ocean of inspiration!"