Lightnin' Hopkins - Jake Head Boogie (2009)

Tracklist
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01. Jake Head Boogie
02. Lonesome Dog Blues
03. House Upon The Hill
04. Santa Fe
05. Ticket Agent
06. War News Blues
07. Another Fool In Town
08. Candy Kitchen
09. Tell Me Pretty Mama
10. Give Me Back That Wig
11. Everyday I Have The Blues
12. Everyday I Have The Blues
13. Needed Time
14. One Kind Favour
15. Drifting Blues
16. Someday Baby (Worried Life)
17. Last Affair
18. Last Affair
19. Bad Luck And Trouble (Breakdown)
20. Bad Luck And Trouble
21. Beggin' You To Stay (Don't Keep My Baby Long)
22. Black Cat
23. Mistreater Blues
24. Jake Head Boogie
25. Lonesome Dog Blues
26. Ticket Agent
27. Candy Kitchen
28. Give Me Back That Wig
29. Needed Time
30. Don't Keep My Baby Long
31. Mistreater Blues
In the late 1940s and early '50s, Hopkins recorded for Houston record producer Bill Quinn, the results appearing on several labels (including Quinn's own Gold Star company). In 1951, Quinn sold unreleased Hopkins masters to Modern, which issued some of them on its RPM subsidiary. This 31-track disc has all 14 of the Hopkins sides that came out on RPM, plus a bunch of other tracks from the same batch of Modern-by-way-of-Quinn masters; most were not available on CD outside of Japan before this release, and were indeed usually hard to find anywhere. The sounds are what you'd expect from Hopkins if you've heard more widely circulated stuff from this period: Texas blues caught between the rural and electric era, done country style and performed solo, but usually played on a harshly amplified electric guitar that adds to the power. The title track especially has some of Hopkins' most effective guitar, getting into some really crunching and raunchy chords in the breaks. "Bad Luck and Trouble," "Beggin' You to Stay," "Mistreater Blues," "War News Blues," "Lonesome Dog Blues," "Everyday I Have the Blues" - it's not always the most optimistic fare, although it's delivered with casual good cheer. Collectors should note that some of these sound different from the actual Modern singles, which added a lot of reverb echo; Ace decided whenever possible to use the original acetates, which had only the natural echo of the room in which Hopkins recorded.
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