Alan Govenar (57 page)

49.
“Lightnin',”
Billboard,
Vol. 73, No. 16, April 24, 1961, p. 28.

50.
CBS Television Network press release, November 4, 1960, Institute of Jazz Studies, Lightnin' Hopkins file.

51.
John Sebastian's son, also named John Sebastian, was about sixteen years old at the time and sat behind the camera in the studio to watch this television production. Lightnin', he said, made a very strong impression upon him. The young Sebastian went on to establish himself as musician and songwriter, performing at Woodstock and with the Lovin' Spoonful. In time he became friends with Lightnin', inviting him stay in the apartment he shared with Nick Lore in New York City, carrying his guitar to gigs, and sometimes interceding on his behalf with club owners. For more information, see
www.classicbands.com/JohnSebastianInterview.html
.

52.
The Candid recordings were out of print for about twenty-five years when Alan Bates acquired the masters and renamed his Black Lion Productions company Candid. Bates then worked to make the Candid titles available again on CD.

53.
Nat Hentoff, liner notes to
Lightnin' in New York,
Candid LP 8010.

54.
“Lightnin' in New York,”
Billboard,
April 3, 1961.

55.
Harold Leventhal letter to George Hoefer
[Down Beat
magazine], September 23, 1960. Institute of Jazz Studies, Lightnin' Hopkins file.

56.
Mitch Greenhill, interview by Alan Govenar, October 10, 2008.

57.
Ibid.

58.
Ibid.

59.
John Broven, “Bobby's Happy House of Hits: The Story of Bobby Robinson and His Famous Labels, Part 2,”
Juke Blues
No. 16, (Summer 1989), p. 11.

60.
For more information on Bobby Robinson, see John Eligon, “An Old Record Shop May Fall Victim to Harlem's Success,”
New York Times,
August 21, 2007; and Timothy Williams, “In Harlem, 2 Record Stores Go the Way of the Vinyl,”
New York Times,
January 21, 2008.

61.
Broven, p. 11.

62.
“Mojo Hand” charted in the first week: 49, second week: 37, third week: 27, fourth week: 26, fifth week: 36. For more information see George Albert, Frank Hoffman and Lee Ann Hoffman,
The Cashbox Black Contemporary Singles Charts, 1960–1984,
(Metuchen, Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1986).

63.
“Mojo Hand,”
Billboard,
Vol. 73, No. 3, p. 40.

64.
Chris Strachwitz, May 21, 2009.

65.
Art D'Lugoff, interview by Alan Govenar, August 2008.

66.
Nat Hentoff, liner notes to
Lightnin' in New York,
Candid LP 8010.

67.
Benson, January 30, 2002.

68.
Billboard,
March 31, 1958.

69.
Lightnin' Hopkins Strums the Blues, Score LP 4022.

70.
Lightnin' and The Blues, Herald LP 1012.

71.
Charles Edward Smith, “Lightnin' Strikes Thrice,”
Saturday Review,
December 3, 1960, p. 60.

72.
McCormick, Mack. “Lightnin' Hopkins: Blues.”
Jazz Review
[USA] 3:1 (January 1960): 14–17. Reprinted in
Jazz Panorama,
edited by M. T. Williams, pp. 311–318. New York: Crowell-Collier, 1962.

73.
Nat Hentoff, liner Notes to Lightning Hopkins: The Last of the Great Blues Singers, Time LP 70004.

74.
Hentoff, Time LP 70004.

75.
Agreement between Prestige Records, Inc. and Sam Lightning Hopkins, May 19, 1961. Courtesy Prestige Music Archives/Concord Music Group, Inc.

76.
Joe Kessler, interview by Alan Govenar, September 3, 2009.

77.
Carroll Peery, interview by Alan Govenar, May 22, 2009.

78.
Ibid.

79.
Ibid.

80.
Ibid.

81.
Lola Cullum's name is misspelled “Cullen” on the labels, undoubtedly the source for the confusion over her name that Mike Leadbitter reported on in
Blues Unlimited
magazine and his book
Nothing But the Blues.
See Leadbitter,
Nothing But the Blues,
(London: Hanover Books, 1971) p. 170. Leadbitter also alleged that Lola Cullum had briefly been a talent scout for Quinn in Gold Star's heyday. Leadbitter,
Nothing But the Blues
(London: Hanover Books, 1971) p.172.

82.
Quinn and Cullum didn't record enough songs for an album, so the
Lightnin' Strikes
LP had to be filled out with two songs from a completely different, electric session that Lightnin' had made for the local Ivory label.

83.
Chris Strachwitz, interview by Alan Govenar, July 18, 2008.

84.
Ibid.

85.
Ibid.

86.
Contract between Chris A. Strachwitz and L. Sam Hopkins, November 26, 1961.

87.
Chris Strachwitz, interview by Alan Govenar, October 2, 2008. Strachwitz did not release any Lightnin' 45s until 1965, when he issued “Mama's Flight,” backed by “My Woman” with drummer Harold “Frenchie” Joseph (Arhoolie 45-508) and “Come On Baby” and “Money Taker.”

88.
Chris Strachwitz, July 18, 2008.

89.
“Meet You at the Chicken Shack” and “Ice Storm Blues” appeared on Arhoolie LP 1011, and “Candy Wagon,” on Arhoolie 1018, but Lightnin's version of “Down Home Blues” was never released.

90.
Sam Charters, “Po' Lightnin': Some Thoughts about Lightnin' Hopkins,” booklet in
Lightnin' Hopkins: The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Recordings,
Fantasy, 1991, p. 25.

91.
Ibid.

92.
“Good Morning Little School Girl” had been a Don and Bob hit, but Lightnin' was no doubt more familiar with Sonny Boy Williamson's 1937 version.

93.
Charters, p. 27.

94.
Ibid.

95.
Lorine Washington, interview by Alan Govenar, March 14, 2008.

96.
Mabel Milton, interview by Alan Govenar, March 15, 2008.

97.
Lightnin' Hopkins, interview by Barbara Dane on KPFK-FM, Los Angeles, CA, July 8, 1960.

98.
McCormick, January 23, 2006.

99.
Letter from Sam Charters to Mack McCormick, September 30, 1963; Letter from M. Richard Asher to Mack McCormick, October 16, 1963; Letter from M. Richard Asher to Mack McCormick, October 28, 1963; Letter from Mack McCormick to Mr. Asher, stamped Received November 1, 1963; Letter from Samuel Charters to Mack McCormick, November 7, 1963; Letter to from Sam Charters to Mack McCormick, November 12, 1963; Letter from Samuel Charters to Mack McCormick, November 18, 1963; Letter from Sam Charters to Mack McCormick, November 20, 1963.

100.
Letter from Samuel B. Charters to John W. Moore, January 24, 1964. In Houston, Bill Holford's ACA studio merged with Gold Star for a brief period in 1965–66.

101.
Bill Belmont, interview by Alan Govenar, May 21, 2009.

102.
Undated letter form Mack McCormick to Sam Charters.

103.
Letter from Samuel Charters to Mr. McCormick, February 27, 1964.

104.
Undated letter from Mack McCormick to Sam Charters, stamped “Received March 16, 1964.”

105.
Charters, p. 27.

6. The Touring Intensifies

1.
Robert Shelton, “Two Guitarists at Village Gate,”
New York Times,
March 31, 1962.

2.
Shelton, 1962.

3.
Lawrence Cohn, Liner Notes to
Lightnin' Hopkins: Hootin' the Blues,
Prestige 7806.

4.
Liner notes to
Lightnin' Hopkins, Mojo Hand,
Fire LP 104.

5.
Ibid.

6.
Chris Strachwitz, interview by Alan Govenar, May 20, 2009.

7.
On
Lightnin' Hopkins, Rare Performances 1960–1979,
Vestapol DVD 13022, this footage is incorrectly dated 1960. The clip of Lightnin' Hopkins was excerpted from
On the Road Again: Down Home Blues, Jazz, Gospel and More,
produced and directed by Sherwin Dunner and Richard Nevins with footage shot by Dietrich Wawzyn.

8.
Dan Morgenstern, interview by Alan Govenar, February 3, 2009.

9.
Morgenstern, February 3, 2009.

10.
Morgenstern, February 3, 2009.

11.
Joe Nick Patoski, “Remembering Lightnin' Hopkins,”
Texas Music,
Issue 24, Fall 2004. Patoski also recalled a performance by Lightnin' on an unspecified date at Jay's Lounge and Cockpit near Cankton, Louisiana, where “the loser of the cockfights staged around back wound up in the gumbo. Hopkins was opening for Clifton Chenier on a weeknight, playing in front of a packed house that remained orderly despite a throng gathered outside that was even larger than the one inside, packed onto the wooden dance floor. All it took was Hopkins hitting a few licks on his guitar, while the other players—mostly Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band—started to percolate behind him. Before he could finish the first verse, a rock crashed through a window near the stage, followed by a mass of people pouring through the opening, oblivious to the broken shards of glass. Hopkins glanced over to the window, flashed a flicker of a smile, and kept on playing, never missing a beat. It's anything he hadn't seen before. He knew as well as anyone what his music could do.”

12.
Gordon Dougherty, “Lightnin' 1963 Flashbacks: A Folk Junkie's Out-Of-Place Encounter with a Blues Legend,”
Austin American-Statesman,
August 22, 1996.

13.
Ibid.

14.
For more information, see
The American Folk Blues Festival, 1962–1966,
Vols. 1 and 2, Reelin' In The Years Productions, 2003.

15.
Chris Strachwitz, interview by Alan Govenar, October 10, 2008.

16.
Strachwitz, October 10, 2008.

17.
Ibid., September 4, 2008.

18.
George W. Lyons, “No Lyon,”
Blues Unlimited
123 (January/February 1977), p. 12.

19.
Ibid.

20.
Barbara Dane, interview by Alan Govenar, March 27, 2008.

21.
Ibid.

22.
Ibid.

23.
Jesse Cahn, interview by Alan Govenar, May 30, 2008.

24.
Ibid.

25.
Ibid.

26.
Dane, March 27, 2008.

27.
Chris Strachwitz, interview by Alan Govenar, October 10, 2008.

28.
Ibid.

29.
Rob Bowman, liner notes to
The American Folk Blues Festival 1962–1966,
Reelin' In The Years Production, 2003.

30.
The Hopkins Brothers: Lightning, Joel and John Henry, Arhoolie CD 340.

31.
Strachwitz, October 10, 2008.

32.
Francis Hofstein, interview by Alan Govenar, April 8, 2008.

33.
Alan Balfour, “Death of a Legend,”
New Musical Express [UK],
February 6, 1982.

34.
Derrick Stewart-Baxter, “Blues,”
Jazz Journal,
December 1964, pp. 28–29.

35.
Paul Oliver, “Festival Blues, The American Blues Festival, 1964,”
Jazz Monthly,
Christmas 1964, pp. 4–6.

36.
Val Wilmer, “Blues ‘64,”
Jazz Beat
(November 1964), pp. 36–37.

37.
Kay Pope, “The European Odyssey of Lightnin' Sam Hopkins,”
Houston Chronicle Sunday Magazine,
November 22, 1964, p. 14.

38.
“Down Home Blues,”
Billboard,
Vol. 76, No. 40 (October 3, 1964), p. 24.

39.
Dane, March 27, 2008.

40.
Mitch Greenhill, interview by Alan Govenar, October 10, 2008.

41.
Chris Strachwitz, September 4, 2008.

42.
Ibid.

43.
Ibid. October 10, 2008.

44.
For a discography of blues singers who appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, see
www.wirz.de/music/newpofrm.htm
.

45.
Strachwitz, October 10, 2008.

46.
The
Live at Newport
recordings were released on Vanguard CD 79715 in 2002.

47.
Vanguard CD 79715.

48.
Strachwitz, October 10, 2008.

49.
Lay, October 9, 2008.

50.
Verve-Folkways LP 9022 was also issued as Verve LP 5014, Saga LP 8001, and Boulevard LP 4001.

51.
Stan Lewis, interview by Alan Govenar, August 7, 2008.

52.
Colin Escott, liner notes to Lightnin' Hopkins,
Fishing Clothes, The Jewel Recordings, 1965–69,
Demon Music Group, 2001.

53.
Lewis, August 7, 2008.

54.
Ibid.

55.
“Wig Wearing Woman,” Jewel 766 and Jewel LP 5000, reissued on Lightnin' Hopkins,
Fishing Clothes, The Jewel Recordings, 1965–69,
Demon Music Group, 2001.

56.
Lightnin' recorded this song twice for Jewel; the first version is the one with acoustic-electric guitar that was released as a single, for which Robin Hood Brians was likely the engineer. The second version, which has a very electric guitar lead, was an unissued take from
The Great Electric Show and Dance
album. The voice heard at the beginning of this track is Bill Holford at ACA in Houston.

57.
“(Letter to My) Back Door Friend,” Jewel 788 and Jewel LP 5015, reissued on Lightnin' Hopkins,
Fishing Clothes, The Jewel Recordings, 1965–69,
Demon Music Group, 2001.

58.
Lightnin' Hopkins, “I'm Going to Build Me a Heaven of My Own,” on Lightnin' Hopkins,
Soul Blues,
Prestige LP 7377.

59.
John Holt, letter to Folkways Records, June 6, 1965, Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Lightning Hopkins file.