Houston, Texas's favorite son Sam John Hopkins, better known as Lightnin', was recorded in 1959 by the legendary musicologist Samuel Charters, predating and predicting the folk-blues revival of the early '60s. Widely regarded as one of the finest acoustic blues albums ever, Lightnin' Hopkins, originally released in 1959 on Folkways Records, established it's hero as a legend. The very definition of essential.