The Roots of Lightnin' Hopkins is a 1965 album by the Texan

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 and singer Lightnin' Hopkins

Lightnin' Hopkins

Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...

. It had originally been released in 1959 on the Folkways

Folkways Records

Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...

 label (FS 3822) under the title of "Lightnin' Hopkins".

The album was recorded by Samuel B. Charters on January 16, 1959 at 2803 Hadley Street, Houston, Texas. At the time Lightnin' had almost stopped playing and was doing odd jobs. Charters learned about Lightnin's whereabouts from a cousin in New Orleans and was told to look for him in Houston. In Houston all he could find was Lightnin's guitar, in a pawn shop on Dowling Street. Sam enquired of many people Lightnin's whereabouts. All were carefully vague but word was passing. The next morning a car pulled up beside Charters' at a red light and a thin man in dark glasses said, "You looking for me?" Lightnin' had found him.

After convincing Lightnin' that he was serious about recording him, Charters got him a guitar and a bottle of gin, and they went back to Lightnin's room and recorded the album there, with Charters holding the microphone in his hand; moving it up to Lightnin's head when he was singing and down to the guitar when he was playing a solo. The album was first released at around the time the book The Country Blues came out and was an instant success and gave Lightnin's career a well-deserved new lease on life. Lightnin' went on to record many more songs in the '60s and '70s.

The album was released in the UK by Verve Folkways as VLP 5003 (mono) and SVLP 5003 (stereo) and re-released in 1972 by Transatlantic Records

Transatlantic Records

Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961. It started began primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom. Within a couple of years, the company had...

 (XTRA 1127). In 1990 it was re-released on CD under the title Lightnin' Hopkins by Smithsonian/Folkways (SF 40019), and distributed by Rounder Records

Rounder Records

Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...

. The CD was produced by Matt Walters, remastered by Doug Sax and Alan Yoshida at The Mastering Lab Hollywood CA, and printed in Canada. As cover design the original Folkways LP's artwork by Ronald Clyne

Ronald Clyne

Ronald Clyne was an American freelance designer and graphic artist best known for creating over 500 covers for Folkways Records during the more than three-decade lifetime of his independent company from 1948–1986....

with a photograph taken by Samuel B. Charters was used. Charters also wrote the sleeve notes for the CD at the Mansfield Centre, Conn. 1990.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Penitentiary Blues"
2. "Bad Luck and Trouble"
3. "Come Go Home With Me"
4. "Trouble Stay 'Way From My Door"
5. "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"

Side two

1. "Goin' Back To Florida"
2. "Reminiscences of Blind Lemon"
3. "Fan It"
4. "Tell Me, Baby"
5. "She's Mine"