Here are two live recordings by steel guitar ace Hop Wilson & Ivory Lee Semien from Mack McCormick's private stash and more.
Here's the scoop...
Step inside the Houston club Irene’s, a legendary place for blues and early zydeco music, with this 1966 recording of “3 O’Clock Blues” and "Broke and Hungry" by blues steel guitar player and singer Harding “Hop” Wilson.
Raised in Crockett, Texas, Wilson became known for his mastery of the double-neck lap-steel guitar, in which he tuned one neck to an open G chord and the other to an open E, often moving back and forth to play each neck during one song. Texas blues and western swing bands were major influences, motivating him to purchase his first electric steel guitar in 1939. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1942 until 1946, Wilson performed regularly in Houston venues and recorded with the drummer Ivory Lee Semien in the late 1950s as depicted in Mack McCormick's photo above. His music has influenced blues and rock musicians since the 1960s, such as Texas guitarist Johnny Winter.
These two performances appear on the massive multi-artist 66-track Grammy-nominated compilation Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971, out on CD, LP, and digital platforms available here. Have a listen to the two Hop Wilson tracks from the compilation along with a few of Hop's rockin' studio recordings for Goldband.
