Classic blues from Lightnin Hopkins – a set that's far rootsier than you might expect from the "electric show" in the title! Hopkins plays mostly acoustic guitar here – and sings with very spare backing overall – just a bit of keyboards, bass, and drums, plus some harmonica too – although most numbers really have Lightning's vocals and guitar out front in the mix. Titles include "Breakfast Time", "Lovin Arms", "Mr Charlie (parts 1 & 2)", "Ride In Your New Automobile", and "You're Too Fast". LP, Vinyl record album

A really well-done collection, and one that gets right to the heart of the genius of the great Lightnin Hopkins – bringing together key early recordings that were issued on the Modern/RPM label, plus seminal sides for Fire Records at the start of the 60s – and even a few rare later tracks from 1968, never issued at the time! The late 40s material was recorded in Houston, and mostly just features Hopkins on guitar and vocals – but that's more than enough, as his use of the instrument alongside his presentation of the lyrics is amazing – still very much at the core of the New York recordings from 1960, which mostly just touch things up with just a bit of light bass and drums. The 1968 tracks are equally spare, but with more fuzz on the guitar – and titles include "Ticket Agent", "Someday Baby", "Short Haired Woman", "Jake Head Boogie", "Glory Bee", "Got A Letter This Morning", "You Just Got To Miss Me", "War News Blues", and "Mistreater Blues". CD

A set that features a fair bit of work recorded in Houston during the postwar years, mostly just Lighnin Hopkins with vocals and guitar – plus a handful of other tracks recorded in 1969 in Berkley. LP, Vinyl record album

A record that states its power right from the stark image on the cover – the genius talents of Lightnin Hopkins, handled by the soulful production of Harlem's great Bobby Robinson! The mix of modes is great – and rather than go for an uptown version of Hopkins' music, Bobby seems to understand it even more than most producers – and really allow the strings of the guitar to resonate with this chromatic, almost sparkling sort of quality – sounding fantastic next to the raw growl of the man himself! The record is still as classic as can be for Lightnin – no added instrumentation or arrangements – and titles include "Coffee For Mama", "Black Mare Trot", "Glory Bee", "Shine On Moon", "Santa", and "Have You Ever Loved A Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A late 50s session, but an album that captures Lighnin Hopkins in a rootsy style that could well hearken back to the 78rpm blues records of the 30s – thanks to production by Samuel B Charters, who captured Hopkins alone making music in his apartment in Houston! The tracks have that beautifully spare, yet indescribably rich sound of Hopkins at his best – wonderfully expressive through just a few vocal inflections and deft changes on the guitar – augmented here by one track that also features Lighnin just speaking, recalling his meeting with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Titles include "Bad Luck & Trouble", "Penitentiary Blues", "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", "Tell Me Baby", "Fan It", "Goin Back To Florida", "Trouble Stay Way From My Door", and "Come Go Home With Me". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A really nice later set from legendary Texas blues titan Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins – done up for the Jewel label with a bit of the spark that was missing from the hit & miss work he did earlier in the decade for Bluesville! Blue Lightnin' also has a down and dirty style in spots, too – such as on the sinister "Back Door Friend" – the kind of thing that might have put off the academic market his previous label was shooting for! Other titles include "Found My Baby Crying", "Move On Out" (parts 1 & 2), "Fishing Clothes", "Gamblers Blues", "Wig Wearing Woman", "Last Affair", "Daddy Was A Preacher", "Jail House Blues", "I Hate I Got Married", "Lovin' Arms" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A hugely sprawling 2CD collection of spanning the career of the incredible Lightnin Hopkins – from his most beloved years from the late 40s to late 50s – and a quite wonderful collection of numbers from the 60s after he had captured the hearts of the young, idealistic folk crowd of the era! Disc one focuses on the years 1947 to 1959 – wonderful, wonderful solo blues recordings that are justifiably revered to say the least. Titles include "Lightin's Boogie", "Coffee Blues", "Moanin Blues", "Highway Blues", "The Foot Race Is On", "Hopkin's Sky Hop", "Short-Haired Woman", the previously unissued "Ain't No Monkey Man" and many more. 26 tracks on disc one. Disc two covers the 60s, when Lightin was recording for Fire, Bluesville, Jewel and other labels. Nice picks from the later years, including some live numbers. Includes "Mojo Hand", "Ida Mae", "I Got Tired", "Sinner's Prayer", "Slavery Time", "Tom Moore Blues", "Up On Telegraph Avenue" and many more. CD

A set that's one of the more obscure Lightning Hopkins albums of the 60s – as it was issued on the short-lived label Candid, an imprint that was mostly known for modern jazz! Yet the approach here is wonderfully faithful to the music that Hopkins does best – a well-recorded solo date that's handled in ways that are similar to some of the Prestige Records blues albums of the time – maybe in part because as things went mainstream and more commercial, it was up to some of the jazz labels to preserve a more stripped-down sound! Hopkins sings and plays guitar – and even handles a bit of piano too – on titles that include "Take It Easy", "Mighty Crazy", "Trouble Blues", "Wonder Why", "Mister Charlie", and "I've Had My Fun If I Don't Get Well No More". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

With Leonard Gaskin on bass and Herbie Lovelle on drums – on tracks that include "Too Many Drivers", "I'm Going To Build A Heaven Of My Own", "Lonesome Graveyard", "The Howling Wolf", and "Black Ghost Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the rootsiest albums ever recorded by Taj Mahal – a set that begins with a song by Lightnin Hopkins, then seems to have Taj echoing a lot of the spareness of that work! The film's set in the 30s, and the music is very rootsy rural blues – with just Taj Mahal on vocals, steel-bodied guitar, harmonica, and even a bit of banjo and fife – served up in ways that almost make the whole thing feel like a Folkways recording, instead of an album done for Columbia. Tunes are often short, and a mix of vocals and instrumentals – and Lightnin Hopkins sings "Needed Time" – while the others include "Just Workin", "Jailhouse Blues", "I'm Running & I'm Happy", "Harriet's Dance Song", "Two Spirits Reunited", "Sounder Chase A Coon", and "Speedball". LP, Vinyl record album

16 track promotional CD. CD

One of the rootsiest albums ever recorded by Taj Mahal – a set that begins with a song by Lightnin Hopkins, then seems to have Taj echoing a lot of the spareness of that work! The film's set in the 30s, and the music is very rootsy rural blues – with just Taj Mahal on vocals, steel-bodied guitar, harmonica, and even a bit of banjo and fife – served up in ways that almost make the whole thing feel like a Folkways recording, instead of an album done for Columbia. Tunes are often short, and a mix of vocals and instrumentals – and Lightnin Hopkins sings "Needed Time" – while the others include "Just Workin", "Jailhouse Blues", "I'm Running & I'm Happy", "Harriet's Dance Song", "Two Spirits Reunited", "Sounder Chase A Coon", and "Speedball". CD

A rare follow-up to the famous album that Lightnin Hopkins recorded for the Herald label in the mid 50s – all the other tracks he cut for the company at the time, brought together as a record for the first time ever! The sound is wonderfully raw – that wickedly spare style that always seems to make Hopkins sound so great – as you'll hear on the set! Some titles are alternates of other recordings, some are new tracks – and titles include "Lightnin's Boogie", "Life I Used To Live", "Sittin Down Thinkin", "Blues For M Cookie", "Lightnin's Special", "My Little Kwepie Doll", "My Baby's Gone", "Lonesome In Your Home", and "Don't Think Cause You're Pretty". LP, Vinyl record album

Lightnin Hopkins at his best – a set that rings out with all his bold electric tones on the guitar, yet which also has the moody, stripped-down feel of a blues recording from a few decades before! The electricity really does a lot to deepen the tone – both in the echo from Hopkins' guitar, and in the way his vocals stretch out in the same space! There's no other backing at all – which makes for a moody feel, and a quality that lives up to the "folk" in the title – yet Lightnin also gives the whole thing a crackling sort of energy that's also very much in the best postwar blues mode. Titles include "Sick Feelin Blues", "Blues For My Cookie", "My Baby's Gone", "Lightnin's Special", "Nothin But The Blues", and "Don't Think Cause You're Pretty". LP, Vinyl record album

The complete work from a short but wonderful stretch of recording – a series of sides done for the Fire/Fury record label – which match the genius talents of Lightnin Hopkins and the soulful production of Harlem's great Bobby Robinson! The mix of modes is great – and rather than go for an uptown version of Hopkins' music, Bobby seems to understand it even more than most producers – and really allow the strings of the guitar to resonate with this chromatic, almost sparkling sort of quality – sounding fantastic next to the raw growl of the man himself! The record is still as classic as can be for Lightnin – no added instrumentation or arrangements – and titles include "Coffee For Mama", "Black Mare Trot", "Glory Bee", "Shine On Moon", "Santa", and "Have You Ever Loved A Woman". CD features 18 tracks in all – the full Mojo Hand album, plus material from singles too! CD

A nicely rootsy set – one that mixes vintage work with new material done in a similar mode – all at a level that criss-crosses between rural blues, trad jazz, and a range of other older styles! The package is maybe less a full compendium of the roots of black music than it is a set that does a good job of changing artists while keeping an eye on a thematic sense of expression – beginning with actual roots, then using roots revival and contemporary material to echo a unified aesthetic! The package has track by track notes, and essays on the music – and the 40 track set features work from Cedric Burnside, Corey Harris & Sharde Thomas, Ranky Tanky, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Lightnin Hopkins, Staple Singers, Bennie Richardson, Golden Eagles, Martin Bogan & Armstrong, Bessie Jones, Skip James, Cephas & Wiggins, Inmate Named Peter, Rev Gary Davis, John Jackson, Odetta, Mississippi John Hurt, Professor Longhair, Campbell Brothers, Dom Flemons, Tuts Washington, and others. CD

A really well-done dip into the New York City blues scene of the 50s – one that presents a wealth of work we might not have heard otherwise, pulled from labels that include Old Town, Harlem, Jax, Wing, Dog, and Groove! There's a nice mix of material here that really shows the way the city was able to act as a crossroads for styles that were not necessarily homegrown, but could certainly find a home in its diverse community – as some cuts have more of a rural bent, others have some of the more electrified touches that were coming into urban blues, and a few have some of the jump/jazz styles of the R&B generation. Titles include "No Help Wanted", "I Believe You Got A Sidekick", "Bicycle Boogie", "Operator", "Slow Down Baby", "Paper Lady", and "Rip & Run" by Bob Gaddy; "You Better Heed My Warning", "Please Tell Me", "Feelin All Right", "No Tellin What I'll Do", and "What Your Love Means To Me" by Larry Dale; "A Letter To Lightnin Hopkins", "Worrying Over You", "Bluebird Bluebird", and "My Confession" by Brownie McGhee – and more by Cousin Leroy, Alonzo Scales, and Paul Williams too. CD

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles include "Dirty Mother For You" by Roosevelt Sykes, "So Glad You're Mine" by Arthur Big Boy Crudup, "Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy" by Luther Allison & The Blue Nebulae, "Help Me" by Junior Wells, "I Wonder Why" by Jimmy Dawkins, "Too Much Alcohol" by JB Hutto & His Hawks, "So Many Roads So Many Trains" by Otis Rush, "Long Distance Call" by Muddy Waters, "Off The Wall" by James Cotton Band, "Juanita" by Big Joe Williams, "Jelly Jelly Blues" by Shirley Griffin, "I Feel So Good" by Magic Sam, "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker, "Death Letter Blues" by Son House, "Key To The Highway" by Sam Lay, and "Mojo Hand" by Lightnin Hopkins. CD

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles on this second volume include "Long Distance Call" by Muddy Waters, "Off The Wall" by James Cotton Band, "Juanita" by Big Joe Williams, "Jelly Jelly Blues" by Shirley Griffin, "I Feel So Good" by Magic Sam, "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker, "Death Letter Blues" by Son House, "Key To The Highway" by Sam Lay, and "Mojo Hand" by Lightnin Hopkins. LP, Vinyl record album

28 tracks by Robert Garret, JB Lenoir, Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon, Jack The Bear Parker, Lazy Slim, Rufus Gore, Peppermint Harris, Sonny Boy Williams, Lightnin' Hopkins, and more! CD

A mad mix of space-age instrumentals, groovy vocal tunes, and lots lots more – and definitely one of the coolest compilations we've ever seen! The cover states that "a galaxy of stars goes where no other compilation has ever gone before" – and we can definitely agree with that claim, given the unique feel of the music, and the wonderful assortment of tracks in the set! The set list draws on many different genres – early rock, offbeat country, easy instrumentals, sound library gems, and lots more – all to bring together a startling array of sounds that's more than enough to send you into outer space on your own. Weird tracks are mixed nicely with tuneful numbers – so that there's a really great sense of discovery as the set rolls on – a vibe that's as well-chosen as some of Ace Records' Halloween compilations, but in a sci fi sort of mode. Titles include "Armstrong" by John Stewart, "Destination Moon" by The Ames Brothers, "Lunar Rhapsody" by Les Baxter, "Happy Blues For John Glenn" by Lightnin Hopkins, "Theme From Star Trek" by Leonard Nimoy, "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" by Bobby Womack, "Doctor Who" by BBC Radiophonic Workshop, "Visa To The Stars" by Jean Jacques Perry & Gershon Kingsley, "Rocket To The Moon" by Moon Mullican, "Forbidden Planet" by David Rose, "Everybody Gets To Go To The Moon" by Themla Houston, and "Footprints On The Moon" by Johnny Harris. CD

With selections by Lightnin' Hopkins, Billy Biser, Calvin Loudmouth Johnson and Johnny Winter, Clifton Chenier, and T-Bone Walker. LP, Vinyl record album

An album that brings together unissued tracks from the Arhoolie catalog by each of the three blues artists on the cover! CD

A great collection of raw blues from the Arhoolie label in the 60s – 31 tracks by artists who include Mercy Dee, Bukka White, Lightning Hopkins, Black Ace, Mance Lipscomb, Lil Son Jackson, Big Joe Williams, Guitar Slim, Lowell Fuson, Johnny Young, Luna, Kid Thomas, Alice Stuart, and others! LP, Vinyl record album