Lightnin’ Hopkins was recording at a furious pace for various companies in the early 1960s, utilizing his uncanny ability to improvise new songs and adapt old ones on the spot. He had no bigger fan than Chris Strachwitz, owner of Arhoolie Records, who joined the fray, not only recording Hopkins anew but reissuing classic sides recorded for Bill Quinn’s Gold Star label in Houston from 1947 to 1950. Most of the sides, featuring Hopkins alone on guitar, were first issued on Gold Star 78s but several tracks on the 1963 “Early Recordings” LP and the second 1971 volume had never been released before. Hopkins also took a seat at the organ on one session. Each volume contained 16 tracks, expanded to 24 when later issued on CD (now available from Smithsonian Folkways). Strachwitz’ liner notes illuminated Hopkins’ music and his ways, which included going to Quinn’s studio to cut a few sides when he needed cash. These are prime examples of down-home Texas blues and boogies by the man Strachwitz praised as “the most creative folk poet of our time who is without doubt the King of the Blues.”
