Topic: Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues

[jostber]

http://www.bluesandrhythm.co.uk/documents/hopkins.pdf

Great stuff, thanks!

[Bunker Hill]

Officially due for piublication 1st May, Amazon US are already sending out pre-ordered copies.

Amazon UK will be dispatching pre-orders on 9th May.

[jharris]

Just a quick head's up that I interviewed Alan Govenar for yesterday's show which was devoted to Hopkins. You can listen to an edited version of the interview at my website (at the bottom): http://sundayblues.org. Those who want to listen to the entire program can find it here: http://baddogbl.startlogic.com/feeds/brb_5.16.mp3. Just a note that the last 25 minutes weren't recorded so I just tacked on the tracks I played and the remaining interview.

Curious if anyone else has read the book? I would certainly recommend it. The book is very well written, thoroughly researched and paints a vivid portrait of a man who, despite his fame, was something of an enigma. In the end, at least to me, Hopkins still remains something of a mythic figure which I imagine is how he would have wanted it. I guess that's the reason I titled my show after one of his great 50's numbers, "They Wonder Who I Am." I guess the only somewhat negative thing I would say is that I would have liked a bit more in-depth look at the music itself. I guess it's not a bad thing, but this is one of the few blues books that left me wanting more.

Another big plus is the inclusion of a complete discography which obviously entailed a tremendous piece of research in itself.

-Jeff H.

[Bunker Hill]

In the end, at least to me, Hopkins still remains something of a mythic figure which I imagine is how he would have wanted it.

Mythical? Perhaps. Enigmatic, certainly. It?s a shame that LH?s long time partner, Antoinette Charles, proved to be so unwilling to fully co-operate. Given that she was married to someone else during the thirty year relationship I suppose it?s understandable.  It's certainly an easy and informative read even if at times I too found myself wanting more discussion of his songs. However, I'm please that AG didn't fall into the trap of writing a biography just by following the sequence of events in his discography.

Another big plus is the inclusion of a complete discography which obviously entailed a tremendous piece of research in itself.

Andrew Brown has done a wondrous job on the discography. To be honest I?m astonished that the publishers gave its inclusion the thumbs up, especially in light of its extraordinary length. I guess that if Andrew had included within the chronological sessions all the artists who LH accompanied that would have been a "discography too far" for the publisher and out all of it would have gone.

[Bunker Hill]

The CD of the book? 

http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=8503

[oddenda]

I found the book a bit underwhelming. The first three chapters deal with the meat of the matter: those after with his post "rediscovery" years, about which there is a LOT more information. The chapter about the affair with author J.J. Phillips would have better been an appendix - it interrupts the biographical flow. A decent book, then, but not a great one; probably as good as it's going to get from this vantage point. To quote Kevin Kline's character in "A FISH CALLED WANDA"... "Disappointed!". Oh, the McCormack/Oliver fiasco looms large over our potential knowledge. C'est la bloody guerre.

Peter B.

[Bunker Hill]

I found the book a bit underwhelming. The first three chapters deal with the meat of the matter: those after with his post "rediscovery" years, about which there is a LOT more information. The chapter about the affair with author J.J. Phillips would have better been an appendix - it interrupts the biographical flow. A decent book, then, but not a great one; probably as good as it's going to get from this vantage point.

You never know maybe Tim O'Brien has been awaiting the publication of this to turn his 2006 University of Houston MA thesis - Sam Lightnin; Hopkins Houston Bluesman 1912-1960 - into an "alternative" biography. It won't be the first time that two biographies of the same artist have appeared within years of each other.

[Bunker Hill]

This has just arrived in my email

"Lightnin? Hopkins: His Life and Blues," has won the 2011 ARSC Award for Best History in Music.

David N. Lewis, ARSC Awards Committee Co-Chair
1110 E. Main Street Apt. 802
Lebanon, OH 45036

Winners are chosen by the ARSC Awards Committee: five elected judges representing
specific fields of study, the ARSC President, and the Book Review Editor of the ARSC
Journal. The members of the 2011 ARSC Awards Committee are:

Roberta Freund Schwartz (Committee Co-Chair)
David Lewis (Committee Co-Chair)
Vincent Pelote (ARSC President)
James Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal)
Dennis Rooney (Classical Music Judge)
Cary Ginnell (Judge-At-Large)
Dan Morgenstern (Jazz Music Judge)
William L. Schurk (Popular Music Judge)
Richard Spottswood (Judge-at-Large)

Additional information about ARSC, including lists of past ARSC Award Winners and
Finalists, may be found at www.arsc-audio.org <http://www.arsc-audio.org/>