Prestige Profiles, Vol. 8

Performer: Lightnin' Hopkins
Producer: Kenneth S. Goldstein; Mack McCormack; Sam Charters
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Lightnin' Hopkins (vocals, guitar); Billy Bizor (vocals, harmonica); Sonny Terry (harmonica); Buster Pickens (piano); Leonard Gaskin, Donald Cooks (bass instrument); Belton Evans, Spider Kilpatrick, Herb Lovelle (drums). Although Prestige was primarily known as a jazz label, they did host some superb blues artists, including the brilliant, idiosyncratic Texas guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins. Hopkins was only with Prestige for a spell in the early 1960s, but this excellent 16-track collection skims the cream from his output for the label. Featured in both solo and group settings, Hopkins lays down his inimitable sparse, country-blues guitar style, not to mention his legendary ability to improvise wry, comic stories. Prestige Profiles, Vol. 8 contains previously released tracks taken from Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins' short stint with the label. These 16 cuts feature both solo and small-combo sessions recorded between 1960 and 1964, and include tasteful versions of such Lightnin' favorites as "Mojo Hand," "Katie Mae," "I'm a Crawling Black Snake," and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl." Much like the discography of fellow bluesman John Lee Hooker, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the plethora of Hopkins material available, which is why both Prestige Profiles, Vol. 8 and Rhino's excellent Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins are highly recommended collections by the legendary bluesman. For a limited time, the first ten volumes in the Prestige Profiles series include a free bonus compilation CD of Prestige artists. ~ Al Campbell

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.

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