WILSON " THUNDER " SMITH

          WILSON " THUNDER " SMITH., fué quien le puso el apodo a "LIGHTNIN"          
          HOPKINS.,Imaginaros las BIG-STORMY´S BLUES que montaban !

  

Wilson Smith was probably from Houston but his birthdate is unknown. In 1946 talent scout Lola Anne Cullum was searching around Houston to find new artists for Aladdin Records and found Sam "Lightnin' Hopkins playing on Dowling Street in Houston with his much older cousin Alger "Texas" Alexander singing on a street corner. Cullum was impressed with Hopkins, but was frightened of Alexander who she probably didn't know had made a wealth of pre-war recordings. No one seems to know where she found Smith, perhaps in a local club. She took Hopkins and Smith to Los Angeles, CA. with the original idea of them being the duet "Thunder & Lightning". Hopkins and Smith both had sides issued under their respective names with the other artist in tandem up until '47. It can only surmised that two unpaired less than friendly, because they both wound up back in Houston recording for Gold Star. By that time if Hopkins wanted a piano player to back him, he called on Buster Pickens. Smith in turn was using guitarist Luther Stoneham on his recordings. Smith did make some recordings for Down Town when he got back to Houston in 1948, making his final recordings for the latter label the next year. Out of the pairing Hopkins of course became a best-selling blues star, and Smith's star soon fell. Smith died in Houston sometime in 1965. 

Wilson "Thunder" Smith:Vocals & Piano

Luther Stoneham:Guitar

Recorded at Gold Star Studios, Telephone Road, Houston, TX. 1949

Originally issued on the 1949 single (Gold Star 615) (78 RPM)

This recording taken from the 1992 CD "Texas Blues:The Gold Star Session . 

                              

Recorded: Los Angeles, August 15, 1947
Lightnin' Hopkins (vcl) (g), Wilson „Thunder" Smith (p) (vcl), unknown (d)