Hop Wilson
Houston Ghetto Blues
Label : Bullseye Blues
Release Date : 15 Nov 1993


  1. My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone - (Take 2)
  2. I'm A Stranger
  3. Dance To It (Chicken Stuff #2)
  4. I Ain't Got No Woman
  5. You Don't Move Me Anymore
  6. Rockin' In The Coconuts
  7. Need Your Love To Keep Me Warm
  8. My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone - (Take 1)
  9. Merry Christmas Darling - (Take 1)
10. I Done Got Over
11. Be Careful With The Blues
12. Merry Christmas Darling - (Take 2)
13. Good Woman Is Hard To Find, A
14. I Feel So Glad
15. Why Do You Twist
16. I Met A Stranger Woman
17. Toot Toot Tootsie
18. My Woman Done Quit Me

This album is a must for slide guitar blues lovers. For all blues enthusiasts, and particularly for those who appreciate slide guitar, Hop Wilson plays it like it was supposed to be played. What's different here is that Hop is playing a lap top steel slide guitar, that is relatively unknown to most modern blues players. We want our guitar heroes standing up in front of the mic where we can see them. Hop wrote the book on lap top but if you like this, you also will want to seek out Sonny Rhodes, a living blues man who also uses lap steel on many of his tunes.

Hop Wilson apparently didn't like touring, and spent most of his musical career playing in Houston, Texas. The recordings featured here are pretty much his entire output. Hop's lap steel guitar playing is a "lesson" but what surprised me actaully was his singing voice: It's perfect for blues, with a grieving edge. You feel like you're on the way to a funeral.

The album itself has the ambience of a local bar sound. You get the feeling that you're sitting there - alone at 2 am and the band has one more long weary set to do. There's even the occasional amp crackle and buzz which gives a feeling of presence lost on many studio blues recordings.

Professional blues critics have compared Hop Wilson to Elmore James, but I frankly don't hear it except on "Be Careful With The Blues," where Wilson lifts the "Dust My Broom" riff and makes it his own in an instrumental. Wilson is less frenetic than James, and throws a lot more variety into his music. As much as I love Elmore James, a lot of his material relied on that "Dust My Broom" riff and stayed in the same key. Wilson has no such limitations.

Overall this is a great, downhome, funky recording of a little-known and underappreciated bluesman. I would recommend it highly to anyone who appreciates the real live blues.

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