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The Hopkins Brothers“Joel, Lightning, & John Henry”CD/CASS 340
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Buy It Now!
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Sam “Lightning” Hopkins - guitar and vocals; Joel Hopkins - guitar and vocals; John Henry Hopkins - guitar and vocals.
Recorded at a Hopkins family reunion on Sunday, Feb. 16, 1964, by Chris Strachwitz in Waxahachie, Texas, except # 11, 12, & 17 which were recorded in Houston, Texas March 17, 1965.
A few of these selections were originally issued on ARH LP 1022, all others previously unissued.
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Listen to some of the tracks!! (uses RealAudio®) 1. See About My Brother John Henry -Lightning Hopkins 2. Hot Blooded Woman - John Henry Hopkins 3. Black Hannah - Lightnin' & John Henry Hopkins 4. I Want To Go Fishing - John Henry Hopkins 5. Doin' Little Heiffer - John Henry Hopkins 6. Hey, Baby Hey - John Henry Hopkins 7. Saddle Up My Grey Mare - John Henry Hopkins 8. Tell Me, Tell Me - John Henry Hopkins 9. Little Girl - Lightnin' Hopkins 10. I Got A Brother in Waxahachie - Lightnin' Hopkins 11. Matchbox Blues - Joel Hopkins 12. Home With Mama - Joel Hopkins 13. Come Down To My House - Lightnin' Hopkins 14. Grosebeck Blues - Lightnin' & Joel Hopkins 15. Dice Game, The - (told by Lightnin' Hopkins) 16. I Walked From Dallas - Joel Hopkins 17. Two Brothers Playing (Going Back To Baden-Baden) - Lightnin' & Joel Hopkins |
REVIEW “Lightning Hopkins is well-known to fans of country blues, but this casual recording places his music in an entirely more interesting context. Rather than presenting Hopkins as an `artist,' above and apart from his audience, this disc affords us the chance to hear Lightning and his brothers as equals; an unrehearsed family get together which happened to include some three-way music making. Mostly recorded in 1964, when these men were all 60-ish, some cuts are understandably a bit rough. But it also reminds us of a time when music-making was a social activity, a means of amusement as well as entertainment, a chance to show off a little, a way to tell some tall tales, a way to have fun. The directness of many of these songs indicates that they are improvised (`See About My Brother John Henry,' `I Got a Brother in Waxahachie,' `I Want to Go Fishing,` 'Home With Mama`), but that's part of the appeal. All three brothers are talented: Lightning's success and the other's obscurity also offers some lessons about luck and fate.”(Oatman Burroughs — Option) |
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“This is something of a sensation for lovers of the Texas blues; in early 1964, Lightning Hopkins heard that his eldest brother, John Henry, was living in Waxahachie after having spent most of his life in Texas prisons. Chris Strachwitz took Lightning, third brother Joel, and their mother to be reunited with John Henry, and recorded the subsequent informal session, from which some titles were issued as one side of Arhoolie LP 1022. Now we have a 17-track CD, three tracks of which are from 1965, and the remainder from the reunion.
Even according to Lightning, not a man to praise others at his own expense, John Henry Hopkins was the best maker of songs in the family, so one can understand why Strachwitz was keen to record him. It's fortunate that he did, for John Henry had been ill for a long time, and looks far older than his 63 years in the booklet photos; a life in the penitentiary probably didn't help much. It's evident that he must have been a remarkable guitarist and singer in his prime, for the recordings here are still vigorous and inventive; not surprisingly, John Henry is stylistically rather more old-fashioned than Sam, though by no means as archaic as Joel. I take this to be the net result of having as much natural creativity as Sam, but being less exposed to developments in the blues through his incarceration. I never expected to be reviewing a record that adds so much to our knowledge of the Texas blues as late as 1992; that it's also generally entertaining listening as well is a splendid bonus. Chris Strachwitz deserves our gratitude for going back into the vaults for additional material, rather than simply recycling his LPs into CDs.” (Chris Smith — Blues & Rhythm) |
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