Biography

Some artists are influential because so many followers try to imitate them; others are influential precisely because they cannot be imitated. Lightnin' Hopkins was of the latter variety. With a career that stretched from the 1920s through the '70s, the Texas bluesman was a genre unto himself, a deft guitarist equally at home in a quiet solo performance or fronting an electrified boogie band. He was a free-associating poet who made up entire songs on the spot, and a leathery-voiced singer whose vocals simultaneously communicated a lifetime of misery and an endless reserve of self-confidence.

Top Tracks

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• 75 Highway

• Abilene

• Ain't It A Shame

• Ain't It Crazy

• Automobile Blues

• Baby Please Don't Go

• Back Door Friend

• Back In Mother's Arms

• Back To New Orleans

• Backwater Blues

• Backwater Blues (that Mean Old Twister)

• Big Mama Jump

• Black Cat Bone

• Black Ghost

• Blues In The Bottle

• Blues Is A Feeling

• Bottle It Up And Go

• California Mudslide

• Can't Do Like You Used To

• Can't Get That Woman Off My Mind

• Casey Jones

• Catfish Blues

• Chain Gang Blues

• Coffee Blues

• Coffee For Mama

• Cold In The Evening

• Come Back Baby

• Come Go Home With Me

• Conversation Blues

• Cookings Done

• Coolin' Board Blues

• Cruel Hearted Woman

• Daddy Was A Preacher

• Death Bells

• Don't Think Cause You're Pretty

• Don't You Call That Boogie

• Down Baby

• Down To The River

• Driftin' Blues

• Drinkin' In The Blues

• Early In The Mornin' Blues

• Early Mornin' Boogie

• Fan It

• Fannie Mae

• Feel So Bad

• Fishing Clothes

• Found My Baby Crying

• Freight Train Blues

• From Man To Man

• Give Me Central 209 (hello Central)

• Glory Be

• Goin' Back Home

• Goin' To Dallas To See My Pony Run

• Good Times

• Got To Move Your Baby

• Ground Hog Blues

• Hammond Boogie (organ Boogie)

• Happy New Year

• Hard To Love A Woman

• Home Again Blues

• Honey Babe

• Hopkins Sky Hop

• Hopkins' Sky Hop

• How Long Has The Train Been Gone?

• I Been Burning Bad Gasoline

• I Got A Letter

• I Heard My Baby Crying

• I Want To Go Fishing

• Ida Mae

• Ida May

• I'm A Crawling Black Snake

• I'm Comin' Home

• I'm Coming Home

• I'm Going To Build Me A Heaven Of My Own

• I'm Wild About You Baby

• In The Army Since 1941

• In The Evening, The Sun Is Going Down

• I've Been Buked And I've Been Scorned

• I've Had My Fun If I Don't Get Well No More

• Jack Head Boogie

• Jailhouse Blues

• Jake Head Boogie

• John Hardy

• Katie Mae

• Katie Mae Blues

• Katie May Blues

• Keep Movin' On

• Late In The Evening

• Let Me Play With Your Poodle

• Life I Used To Live

• Lightnin' Boogie

• Lightnin' Boogie (lighnin' Blues) (mad Man's Boogie)

• Lightnin' Jump

• Lightnin' Strikes One More Time

• Lightnin's Boogie

• Lightnin's Special

• Lightnin's Stomp

• Little Rose

• Lonesome Dog Blues

• Lonesome Lightnin'

• Long Gone Like A Turkey Through The Corn

• Long Way From Home

• Mad With You

• Make Me A Pallet On The Floor

• Mama And Papa Hopkins

• Match Box Blues

• Me And Ray Charles

• Mercy

• Mister Charlie

• Mistreater Blues (mistreated)

• Mojo Hand

• Moon Rise Blues

• Moonrise Blues

• Morning Blues

• Moving On Out Boogie

• Mr. Charlie (parts 1 & 2)

• Mr. Charlie, Pt. 1

• Mr. Charlie, Pt. 2

• My Babe

• My Baby's Gone

• My California

• Organ Boogie

• Penitentiary Blues

• Play With Your Poodle

• Please Don't Go Baby

• Rain

• Raise A Ruckus Tonight

• Right On That Shore

• Rock Me Mama

• Rollin' Blues

• Rosa Lee

• Salty Dog

• Sam's Blues

• Santa

• Santa Fe

• See About My Brother John Henry

• See See Rider

• Shaggy Dog

• Shake That Thing

• Shine On Moon

• Shine On, Moon

• Shine On, Moon!

• Shinin' Blues

• Shinin' Moon

• Shining Moon

• Short Haired Woman

• Shotgun

• Stranger Here

• Sugar On My Mind

• Take It Easy

• Talk Of The Town

• Tell Me Pretty Mama

• That Gamlin' Life

• The Hearse Is Backed Up To The Door

• Thinkin' 'bout An Old Friend

• Tim Moore's Farm

• Tim Moore's Farm (tom Moore Blues)

• T-model Blues

• Tom Moore's Farm

• Trouble In Mind

• Vietnam War Blues (parts 1 & 2)

• Walkin' Blues

• Walkin' The Streets

• Walkin' This Road By Myself

• Walking Blues

• War Is Starting Again

• West Coast Blues

• West Texas Blues

• What Wrong Have I Done

• Wig Wearing Woman

• Wonder What Is Wrong With Me

• Worried Life Blues

• You And Your Man Don't Get Along

• You Better Stop Her

• You Got To Work To Get Your Pay

• You Is One Black Rat

• You Treat Po' Lightnin' Wrong

• Your Own Fault, Baby, To Treat Me The Way You Do

• You're Gonna Miss Me

• You're Too Fast

Discography

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• His Blues

  Ace / Ace UK

  2010

• Strums the Blues

  EMI Music Distribution

  1983

• Low Down Dirty Blues

  Mainstream

  1975

• Lonesome Lightnin'

  Carnival Recording Co.

  1972

• The Blues [Mainstream]

  Mainstream

  1971

• Dirty Blues

  Mainstream

  1971

• In New York

  Candid

  1970

• Lightnin', Vol. 1

  Poppy Records

  1970

• Texas Blues Man

  Saar

  1969

• Lonesome Life

  Collectables

  1969

• California Mudslide (And Earthquake)

  Ace

  1969

• Something Blue

  1967

• Soul Blues

  Prestige/Original Blues Classics

  1966

• Hootin' the Blues

  Original Blues Classics / Prestige/Original Blues Classics

  1965

• The Roots of Lightnin' Hopkins

  1965

• Lightnin' Hopkins with His Brothers & Barbara Dane

  Arhoolie

  1965

• Swarthmore Concert

  Bluesville/Original Blues Classics

  1964

• Hopkins Brothers: Lightnin', Joel, & John Henry

  Arhoolie

  1964

• Smokes Like Lightnin'

  Original Blues Classics / Bluesville/Original Blues Classics

  1963

• Blues in My Bottle

  Bluesville/Original Blues Classics

  1963

• Goin' Away

  Bluesville/Original Blues Classics

  1963

• Sonny Terry & Lightnin' Hopkins

  Bluesville Records

  1963

• And the Blues

  Imperial Records (Japan)

  1963

• Lightnin' Sam Hopkins & Spider Kilpatrick

  Arhoolie

  1962

• Lightnin' Strikes Back

  Collectables

  1962

• How Many More Years I Got

  Fantasy

  1962

• Mojo Hand

  Collectables

  1962

• Lightnin' Hopkins and the Blues

  Imperial Records (Japan)

  1962

• Last Night Blues

  Bluesville/Original Blues Classics

  1961

• Lightnin'

  Prestige/Original Blues Classics

  1961

• Sings the Blues [Crown]

  P-Vine Records

  1961

• Walkin' This Road by Myself

  Ace

  1961

• Strikes Again

  Collectables

  1960

• Autobiography in Blues

  Tradition/Rykodisc / Tradition

  1960

• Country Blues

  Tradition/Rykodisc / Tradition

  1960

• Lightnin' and the Blues

  P-Vine Records

  1960

• At the Bird Lounge

  Guest Star

  196?

• Lightnin' Hopkins [Smithsonian/Folkways]

  Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

  1959

• Blues Train

  Mainstream

  1951