Lightnin' Hopkins - Live at the Bird Lounge [Red]

Lightnin' Hopkins was never more at home than in front of a crowd, and Live at the Bird Lounge, pressed here on red vinyl, catches him working a Houston nightclub in 1964.

By then Hopkins had already lived several musical lives, from the Texas juke joints of his youth to a run of postwar hit singles and a second career as a star of the folk-blues revival. Yet Houston remained his home turf, and in a small club he could stretch out, make up lines on the spot and play straight to the people in the room. These six performances draw on the best of what was a long night's set.

"I Heard My Children Crying" opens on a deep, aching note, the kind of personal blues he could summon at will. "You Treat Po' Lightnin' Wrong" turns hurt into wry, finger-pointing humour, while "There's Good Rockin' Tonight" picks up the tempo with a loose, rollicking swing.

His fingerpicking is the star throughout, intricate and percussive, with bass lines and melody running side by side under that warm, conversational voice.

For blues fans who prefer the sweat and spontaneity of a live room to studio polish, this is a vivid, intimate snapshot of a master at work.