Editing Lightnin' Hopkins (section)

==Life==
Hopkins was born in [[Centerville, Texas]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Woke Up This Mornin': Poetry of the Blues |last=Nicholas |first=A. X. |year=1973 |publisher=[[Bantam Books]] |page=87 }}</ref> As a child, he was immersed in the sounds of the [[blues]]. He developed a deep appreciation for the music at the age of eight, when he met [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]] at a church picnic in [[Buffalo, Texas]].<ref name="amg">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lightnin-hopkins-mn0000825208|title=Lightnin' Hopkins Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=January 16, 2024}}</ref> He went on to learn from his distant older cousin, the country blues singer [[Alger "Texas" Alexander]];<ref name="amg"/> Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist [[Frankie Lee Sims]], with whom he later recorded.<ref name=Dahl>{{cite web | url = {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=frankie-lee-sims-p125539/biography|pure_url=yes}} | title = Frankie Lee Sims: Biography | website= [[AllMusic]] | last = Dahl | first = Bill | access-date = 2010-10-19}}</ref> Hopkins began accompanying Jefferson on guitar at informal church gatherings. Jefferson reputedly never let anyone play with him except Hopkins, and Hopkins learned much from Jefferson at these gatherings.

In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm, but why he was imprisoned is unknown.<ref name="amg"/> In the late 1930s, he moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s, he was back in Centerville, working as a farm hand.<ref name="russell"/>

Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946.<ref name="russell"/> While singing on Dowling Street in Houston's [[Third Ward, Houston|Third Ward]], which would become his home base, he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum of [[Aladdin Records (US)|Aladdin Records]], based in [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="amg"/> She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles, where he accompanied the pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first sessions in 1946.<ref name="Wirz">{{Cite web|url=https://www.wirz.de/music/hopkins.htm|title=Illustrated Sam Lightnin' Hopkins discography|website=Wirz.de|access-date=January 9, 2025}}</ref> An Aladdin executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder".<ref name="LarkinBlues">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Blues]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1995|edition=Second|isbn=0-85112-673-1|pages=181/3}}</ref>

[[File:Hopkins-Goldstar-Promo.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Gold Star promotional photograph, 1948]]

Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947.<ref name="Wirz"/> He returned to Houston and began recording for [[Gold Star Records]].<ref name="Wirz"/> In the late 1940s and 1950s he rarely performed outside Texas, only occasionally traveling to the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] and the [[Eastern United States|East]] for recording sessions and concert appearances.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} He performed regularly at nightclubs in and around Houston, particularly on Dowling Street, where he had been discovered by Aladdin.<ref name="russell"/> He recorded the [[hit record]]s "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at [[SugarHill Recording Studios]] in Houston.<ref name="Wirz"/> By the mid- to late 1950s, his prodigious output of high-quality recordings had gained him a following among [[African American]]s and blues aficionados.<ref name="LarkinBlues"/>

In 1959, the blues researcher [[Robert "Mack" McCormick]] contacted Hopkins, hoping to bring him to the attention of a broader musical audience engaged in the [[Roots revival|folk revival]].<ref name="amg"/> McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in [[California]]. He made his debut at [[Carnegie Hall]] on October 14, 1960, alongside [[Joan Baez]] and [[Pete Seeger]], performing the spiritual "[[Mary Don't You Weep]]". In 1960, he signed with [[Tradition Records]]. The recordings which followed included his song "[[Mojo Hand]]" in 1962.<ref name="Wirz"/>

In 1968, Hopkins recorded the album ''[[Free Form Patterns]]'', backed by the rhythm section of the [[psychedelic rock]] band [[13th Floor Elevators]].<ref name="Wirz"/> Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, he released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major [[folk music]] festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally.<ref name="LarkinBlues"/> He toured extensively in the United States<ref name="russell"/> and played a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Hopkins was Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years. He recorded more albums than any other blues musician.<ref name="russell"/> Hopkins was one of the initial inductees to the [[Blues Hall of Fame]] in 1980.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blues.org/halloffame/inductees.php4?YearId=25|title=1980 Hall of Fame Inductees|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305080004/http://www.blues.org/halloffame/inductees.php4?YearId=25 |access-date=2025-01-10|archive-date=5 March 2007 }}</ref>

Hopkins died of [[esophageal cancer]] in Houston on January 30, 1982, at the age of 69.<ref name="Wirz"/> His obituary in the ''[[New York Times]]'' described him as "one of the great country blues singers and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players".<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/01/obituaries/sam-lightnin-hopkins-69-blues-singer-and-guitarist.html| title = Obituary: Sam (Lightnin') Hopkins, 69; Blues Singer and Guitarist| author = Saxon, Wolfgang| date = February 1, 1982| access-date = November 11, 2012| newspaper = [[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Hopkins is buried at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston, Texas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.rice.edu/Documents/Detail/lightnin-hopkins-grave/306782|title=Lightnin' Hopkins' grave|website=rice.edu|publisher=Rice University Fondren Library Woodson Research Center Special Collections & Archives|date=2001}}</ref>

A statue of Hopkins, unveiled in 2003, sits in [[Crockett, Texas]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.campstreetcafe.com/HoustonChronicle.htm|title=''Houston Chronicle'' article|author=Marty Racine|date=2002|website=Campstreetcafe.com|access-date=January 10, 2025}}</ref> His Gibson J-160e "hollowbox" is on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], and his Guild Starfire at the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], both on loan from the Joe Kessler Collection.<ref name="Where Lightnin Strikes 2011">{{cite web | title=The Team | website=Wherelightninstrikes.com | date=2011-02-28 | url=https://www.wherelightninstrikes.com/the-team/ | access-date=2023-08-24}}</ref>