30. SAM “LIGHTNIN’” HOPKINS

Centerville native Sam “Lightnin’ ” Hopkins did his share of 12-bar blues, but distinctive guitar playing and his sense of time and tempo were wonderfully idiosyncratic and inspired a cult of fans both near (he pretty much birthed Houston’s folk scene) and far (his sway over rock guitarists is inestimable). He cut essential sides for Aladdin and Houston’s Gold Star label between 1946 and 1950. Hopkins’ productivity waned until 1959, when musicologist Samuel Charters recorded him for the Smithsonian’s Folkways. At that point, Hopkins enjoyed renewed status as a living legend rediscovered. Most Texas musical moment: Hopkins was a Third Ward fixture and made many of his most enduring recordings at Gold Star Studio in the late-’40s, songs about short-haired women, unreliable automobiles and unkind plantation owners.