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UTSA Institute Of Texan Cultures - Smithsonian Affiliate
UTSA Institute Of Texan Cultures - Smithsonian Affiliate
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Lightnin' Hopkins Kay Guitar

Popular among blues musicians

Like most professional musicians, Lightnin’ Hopkins played on several instruments throughout his career. According to Lightnin’ himself, his first guitar was self-designed and constructed from scrap wood, wire and a cigar box. Fortunately, he was able to upgrade, and like most professional musicians he played on several instruments throughout his career.

This particular guitar was manufactured by the Kay Musical Instrument Company, which has made guitars since the 1890s. This model dates from 1951, shortly after the company began to add electric elements to their acoustic guitars. Kay guitars were popular among blues musicians: in addition to Lightnin’, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, and John Lee Hooker are on Kay’s list of players. The instruments appeal to contemporary musicians too: Bruce Springsteen, St. Vincent, Jeff Tweedy and Taylor Swift are just a few names from the company’s lengthy (and still growing) list.

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Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Texas Blues

Texas Blues Music

Influence on music and culture
Texas Blues Music

The blues have an incredible reach and influence on music and culture. Like jazz, blues music evolved and flourished as an American art form, and specifically an African-American art. Though blues music has some structural patterns and common themes, individual artists found ways to make their own styles stand out: a penchant for improvisation, a certain style to keeping rhythm, or even flipping a right-handed guitar to play the strings with the left hand.

The Mississippi Delta is credited as the birthplace of the blues, but it didn’t take long to get to Texas. Before taking on a young Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blind Lemon Jefferson played with Blind Willie Johnson, and they influenced contemporaries such as Alger “Texas” Alexander and Son Horse (who later taught famed Mississippian Robert Johnson).

For most of the first half of the twentieth century, blues music was often labeled as “roots” or “race music” and not considered for wider play unless it was from a white musician (for example, Elvis Presley). But when folk music began gaining popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, record producers and individual enthusiasts went searching for those founding artists. Blues musicians such as Hopkins, Lipscomb, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf saw their careers revived for new audiences while Buddy Guy and B.B. King began their long careers; the style infused mainstream music acts from Nina Simone to Booker T. and the M.G.’s (and of course the Beatles and the Rolling Stones).


Want to go beyond the blues? Check out the UTSA Library Peer Coaches’ playlist for Black History Month: Texas Artist Edition!

  • Lightnin' Hopkins Playlist
  • Texas Artist Edition Playlist

Resources

On Lightnin' Hopkins and More
Books, Articles & Films
Lightnin’ Hopkins
  • Mojo Hand: The Life and Music of Lightnin’ Hopkins by Timothy J. O’Brien and David Ensminger
  • Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues by Alan Govenar
  • “Lightnin’ Hopkins: Mojo Hands and Barrelhouse Boogies” by Jas Obrecht (for Guitar Player Magazine)
  • The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins Directed by Les Blank
Blues Music and Beyond
  • Crossroads: How the Blues Shaped Rock ‘n’ Roll (and Rock Saved the Blues) by John Milward
  • Keep On Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-Hop by Denise Sullivan
  • Listen to the Blues! Exploring a Musical Genre by James E. Perone
Video
  • “Mister Charlie” with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Billy Bizor and Les Blank
  • The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins Trailer from Les Blank Films
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