Lightnin' Hopkins - Autobiography in Blues (1960/2019) [Official Digital Download]

The famous bluesman's stellar recordings for Tradition epitomized Lightnin's spare "country blues" which was in contrast to the brash and bold Chicago blues so commercially appealing at the time. Lightnin' started his career singing on Houston's street corners for change and drink and his best performances are those intimate concerts. Lightnin's first two albums for Tradition (AUTOBIGRAPHY IN BLUES and COUNTRY BLUES) were just that-down and dirty, out and out blues, honest and true-perfect documents of Lightnin's style, songs and performance.

From the honest portrayal of a family in disarray in "Mama And Papa Hopkins" to the long long road of his Texas youth he sang of in "75 Highway," to the street corner busking given a turn in "Get Off My Toe," Autobiography contains as much of the life this great bluesman lived as could be hammered into twelve concise songs. Those who came later to the life of the blues were deeply influenced by Lightnin'. The Tradition reissue of this album contain the original comprehensive liner notes by Producer Mack McCormick. The mastertapes were sonically cleansed and digitally remastered for this release.

"Hopkins had been a prolific recording artist in the decade following his first sessions in 1948. His stark, functional guitar style and rich Texas drawl made his work instantly recognizable. The inheritor of a blues tradition that went back to Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander, he was an idiosyncratic musician, at his best when playing alone. His predecessors' work was reflected in his first album session, recorded by Sam Charters in January 1959. Not having recorded commercially for several years, Lightnin' was in serious mood, resulting in a set of masterful performances that carried more weight than his later, frequently arbitrary sessions." (AMG)