"[back jacket] music / biography "Alan Govenor's powerful and poignant book is a marvel--and a grand tribute to a great blues artist." --Cornel West, author of Race Matters By the time of his death in 1982, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins was likely the most recorded blues artist in history. This brilliant new biography--the first book ever written about him--illuminates the many contradictions of the man and his myth. Born in 1912 to a poor sharecropping family in Texas, Hopkins left home with a guitar when he was only eight years old. This biography delves into Hopkins's early years, exploring the myths surrounding his meetings with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander, his time on a chain gang, his relationships with women, and his lifelong appetite for gambling and drinking. Hopkins didn't begin recording until 1946, and he soon placed hits on the national R & B charts. But by the time he was "rediscovered" in 1959, his popularity had begun to wane. A second career emerged--now Lightnin' was pitched to white audiences, and he became immensely successful, singing about his country roots and injustices that informed the civil rights era with a searing emotive power. More than a decade in the making, this biography is based on scores of interviews with Lightnin's lover, friends, producers, accompanists, managers, and fans. Alan Govenar is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker. He is the author of numerous books, including Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound."--