Alan Govenar (48 page)
Authors: Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life,Blues
Tags: #Biography, #Hopkins; Lightnin', #United States, #General, #Music, #Blues Musicians - United States, #Biography & Autobiography, #Blues, #Genres & Styles, #Composers & Musicians, #Blues Musicians
| Vocal/piano. | |
| “Met the Blues on the Corner” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Goin' to Galveston” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| Vocal/acoustic guitar. | |
| “Hello, England!” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Beggin' Up & Down the Streets” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “When the Saints Go Marching In” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Hard Headed Children” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Dig Me in the Morning” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Have You Ever Seen a One-Eyed Woman Cry?” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Black Snake” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “How Many Days Must I Wait” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “If You Ever Been Mistreated” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Back to Arkansas” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Children's Boogie” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
| “Blues for Queen Elizabeth” | 77(UK) LP 12/1 |
The Rooster Crowed in England
was released (in the United Kingdom only) in early 1960. It was issued with a two-page insert by Mack McCormick.
Note: “Met the Blues on the Corner” and “Goin' to Galveston” are sourced from an ACA acetate acquired by Mack McCormick.
January 16, 1959. 2803 Hadley Street (Hopkins's apartment), Houston, TX. Producer: Sam Charters
| Vocal/acoustic guitar. | |
| “Penitentiary Blues” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Bad Luck and Trouble” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Come, Go Home with Me” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Trouble Stay âWay From My Door” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Goin' Back to Florida” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Reminiscences of Blind Lemon” (speech) | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Fan It” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “Tell Me, Baby” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “She's Mine” | Folkways LP 3822 |
| “One Kind Favor” | RBF LP LP 202 |
| (incomplete alternate take of “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”) | Â |
Lightnin' Hopkins
was released in 1959. It was issued with a four-page insert by Sam Charters.
February 16 and 26, 1959. Houston, TX. Producer: Mack McCormick
Vocal/acoustic guitar. Luke “Long Gone” Miles, vocal assistance*.
| “Long Time” | Tradition LP | “1035 |
| “Rainy Day Blues” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Baby!”* | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Long Gone Like a Turkey Thru the Corn (Long John)” [sic] | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Prison Blues Come Down on Me”* | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Backwater Blues (That Mean Old Twister)” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Gonna Pull a Party” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Bluebird, Bluebird” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “See See Rider” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Worrying My Mind” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Till the Gin Gets Here” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Bunion Stew” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “You Got to Work to Get Your Pay” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Go Down Old Hannah” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| “Hear My Black Dog Bark” | Tradition LP | 1035 |
| Country Blues was released in early 1960. |
February 16 and 26, 1959. Houston, TX.
Producer: Mack McCormick
Vocal/acoustic guitar.
| “In the Evening, the Sun is Going Down” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “Trouble in Mind” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “Mama and Papa Hopkins” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “The Foot Race Is On” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “That Gambling Life” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “When the Saints Go Marching In” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “Get Off My Toe” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “75 Highway” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “Bottle Up and Go” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “Short Haired Woman” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “So Long Baby” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
| “Santa Fe Blues” | Tradition LP | 1040 |
Autobiography in Blues
was released in early 1960.
July 13, 1959. Houston, TX. Producer: Mack McCormick
| Vocal/acoustic guitar. | Â |
| “Corinne, Corinna” | 77(UK) LP 12/2/Candid LP 8026 |
A
Treasury of Field Recordings, Volume One
was released in the United Kingdom in 1960. It was reissued in slightly altered form in the United States on Candid Records in 1962. The 77 release was issued with a sixty-page booklet of notes by Mack McCormick; the Candid LP reprints the notes (in edited form) within a gatefold cover.
Note: This various artists LP includes the Dudley Alexander Washboard Band, Ed Badeaux, George Coleman (Bongo Joe), John Lomax, Jr., Joel Hopkins, and others.
July 16, 1959. Houston, TX. Producer: Mack McCormick
Vocal/acoustic guitar.
| “The Dirty Dozens” | (no label) LP 1/Raglan LP 51 |
The Unexpurgated Folk Songs of Men
was released in December 1963. It was reissued on Raglan in 1964. Both were issued with a sixteen-page insert by Mack McCormick. Contrary to rumors, there was no Arhoolie reissue in the 1970s.
Note: This various artists LP includes John Lomax, Jr., Ed Badeaux, Mance Lipscomb, and Buster Pickens (all uncredited).
July 16, 1959; January 25, 1960. Houston, TX. Producer: Mack McCormick
Vocal/acoustic guitar/piano*; Melvin “Jack” Jackson, speech/piano*.
| “Tom Moore's Farm” | 77 (UK) LP 12/3 |
| “The Slop”* | 77 (UK) LP 12/3 |
A Treasury of Field Recordings, Volume Two
was released (in the United Kingdom only) in 1960. It was issued with a sixty-page booklet of notes by Mack McCormick.
Note: This various artists LP includes John Lomax, Jr., Gozy Kilpatrick, George Coleman (Bongo Joe), and Mance Lipscomb (credited as “Anonymous”).
November 19, 1959. Houston, TX. Producer: Mack McCormick
Vocal/acoustic guitar; acoustic bottleneck guitar*; Mack McCormick speech on **.
| “Long Way from Texas” | Heritage(UK) LP 1001 |
| “Whiskey, Whiskey”* | Heritage(UK) LP 1001 |
| “Getting Out of the Bushes Tap Dance” | Heritage(UK) LP 1001 |
| “Suicide Blues” | Heritage(UK) LP 1001 |
| “Look Out Settegast, Here Me and My Partner Come”** | Heritage(UK) LP 1001 |
Blues From East Texas
was released (in the United Kingdom only) in early 1960.
Note: Blues From East Texas was a split LP with Joel Hopkins on one side and Lightnin' on the other. It was limited to an edition of ninety-nine copies.
Unissued songs from Mack McCormick sessions, 1959â60
Vocal/acoustic guitar. Luke “Long Gone” Miles, vocal*.
| “Blues Jumped the Rabbit” | unissued |
| “Blues Come Late in the Evening” | unissued |
| “Red River Valley” | unissued |
| “Ella Speed” | unissued |
| “Motherless Child” | unissued |
| “Jack o'Diamonds” | unissued |
| “Make Me Some Changes Soon” | unissued |
| “Farmer's Wife Come Creeping in Her Sleep” | unissued |
| “No Hair at All” | unissued |
| “Sad Hours of Night” | unissued |
| “Boogie Improvisation” | unissued |
| “Oh My Baby Take Me Back (Candy Man)” | unissued |
| “Minnie Lee” | unissued |
| “Mister Charlie Your Rolling Mill is Burning Down” | unissued |
| “Natural Blues” | unissued |
| “Houston Boogie” | unissued |
| “When Mother's Dead and Gone” | unissued |
| “Black and Evil”* | unissued |
| “Walkin' with Frankie”* | unissued |
July 6 or 7, 1960. World Pacific Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Producer: Ed Michel
Lead vocal*/backing vocal/acoustic guitar, with (collectively) Sonny Terry (a.k.a. Sanders Terrell), vocal/harmonica; Walter “Brownie” McGhee, vocal/guitar; Big Joe Williams, vocal/guitar; Jimmy Bond, bass.
| “First Meeting” | World Pacific LP 1296 |
| “How Long Has It Been Since You Been Home”* | World Pacific LP 1296 |
| “Ain't Nothing Like Whiskey” | World Pacific LP 1296 |
| “Penitentiary Blues” | World Pacific LP 1296 |
| “If You Steal My Chickens, You Can't Make âem Lay” | World Pacific LP 1296 |
| “Wimmen From Coast to Coast” | World Pacific LP 1296 |
| “New Car Blues” | Society (UK) LP 1015 |
| “You Gonna Need Somebody to Go Your Bond” | Society (UK) LP 1020 |
| “I've Been âBuked” | Society (UK) LP 1020 |
| “Chain Gang Blues” | Verve-Folkways LP 3011 |
| “Razor Sharp Blues” | Verve-Folkways LP 3011 |
| “Four Friends Blues” | unissued |
| “Friends and Pals” | unissued |
| “Blues From the Bottom” | unissued |
Down South Summit Meetin'
was released in September 1960.
Note: The songs from this session have been reissued in countless forms and configurations, often with altered titles, since 1960. There has never been an issue of the complete World Pacific session.
Though purporting to be a live recording at the Ash Grove Club in Los Angeles, Ash Grove owner Ed Pearl, who was present at this session, has confirmed that the songs for this album (and subsequent issues of material recorded at this session) were recorded entirely at World Pacific Studios, and overdubbed with applause to make them sound live.
July 6 or 7, 1960; August 1961. Live at the Ash Grove Club / World Pacific Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Producer: Ed Michel
Lead vocal/solo acoustic guitar*, with Sonny Terry, vocal/harmonica; Walter “Brownie” McGhee, vocal/guitar; Big Joe Williams, vocal/guitar; Jimmy Bond, bass.
| “Introduction to Big Car Blues”* | Davon LP 2015 |
| Big Car Blues”* | Davon LP 2015 |
| Coffee House Blues”* | Davon LP 2015 |
| Stool Pigeon Blues”* | Davon LP 2015 |
| “Ball of Twine”* | Davon LP 2015 |
| “Three Aces on the Bottom of the Deal” | Davon LP 2015 |
| “Right on that Shore” | Davon LP 2015 |
Blues Hoot
was released in 1961.
Note: This various artists LP is related to the Down South Summit Meetin' LP above. The Hopkins solo set was recorded live at the Ash Grove Club; this set is mixed with the World Pacific studio session (see above) and a solo session by Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, not included here.
The actual date of Lightnin's solo set is in dispute. It has long been written that it occurred on July 6, 1960, but the DCC Compact Classics reissue of Blues Hoot states, “Recorded in August 1961 and released as Davon 2015 in 1961.” Ash Grove owner Ed Pearl supports the 1961 date.
