Lightnin' Hopkins - Blues In My Bottle

The late great Lightnin’ Hopkins was one of the most natural of bluesmen - a poet who would often make up lyrics as he recorded. Because his meters and chord changes were frequently irregular, he was at his best when unaccompanied, as on this 1961 Prestige date. Besides such blues standards as “Wine Spodee-O-Dee,” Blues in the Bottle, and “Catfish Blues,” the album contains several autobiographical originals, including “Beans, Beans, Beans” about his brief stint on a railroad track gang and “D-7” about his aversion to flying. Though he usually played electric guitar, the Texas blues titan performed here with an acoustic and the result was most rewarding.