Hop Wilson
{{Short description|American Texas blues guitarist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Hop Wilson
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| image_size =
| landscape =
| birth_name = Harding Wilson
| alias = Hop Wilson, Poppa Hop
| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|4|27}}
| birth_place = Grapeland, Texas, United States
| origin =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1975|8|27|1921|4|27}}
| death_place = Houston, Texas, United States
| genre = Texas blues
| occupation = Guitarist, singer
| instrument = Steel guitar, harmonica
| years_active = 1950s–1975
| label = Ivory, Goldband
| associated_acts =
| website =
}}
Harding "Hop" Wilson{{cite book
| first= Tony
| last= Russell
| year= 1997
| title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
| publisher= Carlton Books Limited
| location= Dubai
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X
| page= 190}} (April 27, 1921 – August 27, 1975){{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues - A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=314 | isbn= 978-0313344237}} was an American Texas blues steel guitar player.{{cite book
| first= Paul
| last= Du Noyer
| year= 2003
| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music
| edition= 1st
| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing
| location= Fulham, London
| isbn= 1-904041-96-5
| page= 181}} Wilson gained the nickname "Hop" as a devolution of "Harp" due to his constant playing of a harmonica as a child.{{cite web |url= http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/sfc1/goldband/artists/hop_wilson/|title= Goldband Artist Hop Wilson|author= Goldband Records|access-date=December 2, 2009}} His low sounding playing gave several of his tracks, even "Merry Christmas Darling", a morose, disillusioned feel.
Early life
Wilson was born in Grapeland, Texas, in 1921,{{cite book |title= Roadhouse blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Texas R&B|last= Gregory|first= Hugh|year= 2003 |publisher= Backbeat Books|isbn= 978-0-87930-747-9|pages= 32–33|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hm31FkL2iPQC&dq=%22hop+wilson%22&pg=PA5|access-date=December 2, 2009}} learning to play guitar and harmonica at an early age. Acquiring his first steel guitar sometime between the age of 12 and 18,{{cite web|url=http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=431 |title=Hop Wilson & His Buddies |author=Ace Records |access-date=December 2, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311164533/http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=431 |archive-date=March 11, 2009 }} Wilson performed at various Houston clubs. He served in the United States Army and became a private first class. After serving in the Army, Wilson decided to pursue a musical career.
Music career
Wilson began his career performing with drummer Ivory Lee Semien and bassist "Ice Water" Jones in the 1950s, recording tracks in 1957 for Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
He was described as having "absorbed not only the black Texas blues as sung and played by the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson but also the heavily amplified, often wildly distorted, steel guitar sounds of the region's white Western Swing bands."{{Cite web|url=https://acerecords.co.uk/steel-guitar-flashplus|title=Steel Guitar Flash!...Plus|website=Acerecords.co.uk|access-date=November 6, 2023}}
In 1960, Wilson signed with Ivory Records in Houston. Wilson led recording sessions, but despised touring, and only played locally until his death in Houston in 1975.
Influence
While Wilson's recording career has been characterized as "slight", he did have an influence on a variety of musicians, including Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones, who stated in 1994 "There's another guitar player called Hop Wilson. I got songs that I wrote like 'Black Limousine' from him, those kinds of licks".{{cite web |url= http://www.timeisonourside.com/STDeepSouth.html|title= THE SALT OF THE EARTH 1950s–60s Deep South electric blues|author= Ian Gordon McPherson|year= 2000|access-date=December 2, 2009}}
Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac, interviewed in 2007 discussing his favourite blues artists, stated "then there's Hop Wilson, a slide guitar player from Houston who used a twin-neck lap steel. He recorded a couple of singles calling himself Pap Hop, and wrote the song "Black Cat Bone". I love his album Texas Steel Guitar Flash."{{cite web |url=https://guitar.com/features/interviews/peter-green-on-guitar-fleetwood-mac-the-yardbirds-and-more/|title="I was never any good at chords, I always preferred to play the tune": Peter Green on guitar, Fleetwood Mac and the Yardbirds | website=Guitar.com }}
Wilson's song "My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone" was recorded by Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray as "Black Cat Bone" on their 1985 combined release Showdown!, released through Alligator Records.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/black-cat-bone-mt0004321848|title=Black Cat Bone by Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Robert Cray - Track Info|website=AllMusic|access-date=November 6, 2023}} Their recording features a spoken introduction where Copeland and Collins discussed Wilson started by Copeland as follows:
{{Poemquote|
"Tell me something, Albert: what ever happened to Hop Wilson, man?"
"Well, Hop left us, man"
"He did, Albert"
"Boy he sure played that guitar over at the Red Lily Cube"
"Yeah he layed that steel in his lap, he'd be gettin' down"
"I used to like the way he said..." (song begins).
}}
"Black Cat Bone" has since become a popular blues standard,{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} and has been recorded by numerous contemporary blues artists including
Matt Schofield, The Nimmo Brothers and Philipp Fankhauser.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Discography
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Electric blues musicians
Category:American blues guitarists
Category:American male guitarists
Category:African-American guitarists
Category:Texas blues musicians
Category:20th-century American guitarists
Category:Guitarists from Texas
Category:People from Grapeland, Texas
Category:20th-century American male musicians