Rent Masters of Country Blues (1960)
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1h 0min
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- Synopsis:
Texas is rich in space and myth. In the 1920's, it had perhaps the greatest cultural diversity of any southern state. East Texas is not particularly the Texas of cattle, cowboys and wide open plains. It has rich bottom land and cotton flourished there as did sharecropping. There were plantations up and down the Brazos River. If Mississippi had its dreaded Parchman Farm then Texas had the spectre of Uncle Bud Russell and the Midnight Special. Both were equally feared by black men in Texas. Yet within its borders, black music was vital and had a particular style and sound all its own. In this video, we will hear the music of Mance Lipscomb and Lightning Hopkins - two of the greatest Texas blues-men to record.
Mance Lipscomb
Mance Lipscomb was born into a farming family in Navasota, Texas, around 1895. His father played guitar, and by the time Mance was eleven, he would accompany his father to dances as a second guitarist. When he was 16, his father left and Mance became the sole support for his family of 11. In the days before World War I, black rural secular music had not become stratified, and blues had not become a predominant genre. Musicians were more inclined to consider tunes for the type of dance they represented - slow drag, shimmy she-wobble, buzzard lope - rather than by subject or arrangement. Mance seemed to have learned from every ethnic group as well as musicians who passed through Navasota in the 1910's and 20's. He traveled to see Blind Lemon play, and appreciated Blind Willie Johnson, but tended to learn their songs rather than be influenced by their styles. As a dance musician for hire, he had to be prepared to play for a variety of audiences. Mance Lipscomb modestly characterized himself as "a Saturday night guitar picker". He commanded several styles from pop to bottleneck, rags to polkas, black ballads to blues, and probably every other aspect of black and local popular music. He played with a monotonic bass with skillful damping effect. He was a consummate country blues finger-picker.
Lightin' Hopkins
Sam "Lightnin"' Hopkins could pass for the archetype, if not stereotype, of the bluesman as a hard-drinking, rambling, wary figure. He was a generation younger than Mance Lipscomb and was strictly a blues musician. In his time, he was probably the most famous blues singer in East Texas, and one of the most popular among post-war audiences. He was born in Centerville, Texas, in 1912. Though both of his older brothers played guitar, it was a meeting - and an attempted jam session - with Blind Lemon Jefferson that seemed to have struck the young Hopkins at the tender age of 10. A decade later, during the depression, he spent some time as a sharecropper on a large plantation while trying to concentrate on his blues playing. He played jook joints, picnics and even hired himself out for white pool parties in Dallas. By the end of World War II, Sam had settled in Houston. His first recordings were hits, and he was in demand as a recording artist for the next ten years. His primary appeal was in his singing. While his voice did not possess great range it had a rich depth that evoked the blues. His phrasing and inflection were usually impeccable. He referred to himself in the third person, making "poor Sam" a stand-in for the Mack "everyman", with a dose of irony and humor. He was often inventive in his subject matter, occasionally doing topical songs, but always drawing you into his point of view with the charm of a born storyteller. Initially, he played acoustic guitar without other accompaniment but changed to electric in his latter years. His fast jump style fit well with the boogie craze while his slow blues were copied by guitarists across the South. His magnetism was largely due to the persona he created.
Mance Lipscomb:
1. Taj Mahal Introduction
2. Sugar Babe
3. Ella Speed
4. Can I Do Something for You
5. Baby Please Don't Go
6. Shine on Harvest Moon
7. You've Got to See Mama Every Night
8. Goin' Down Slow
9. Night Time is the Right Time
10. Jack O' Diamonds
Lightnin' Hopkins:
11. Taj Mahal Introduction
12. Baby Please Don't Go
13. Take Me Back
14. Hurricane Beulah
15. Mojo Hand
16. Baby Come Home with Me
17. Baby Scratch My Back- Actors:
- Mance Lipscomb, Sam Lightnin Hopkins
- Aka:
- Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin' Hopkins: Masters of Country Blues
- Studio:
- Yazoo
- Genres:
- Documentary, Music & Musicals, Performing Arts, Special Interest
