A Texas Historical Marker honoring Houston blues legend Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins will go up in the Third Ward on Nov. 13. The marker is the result of nearly a year's work by Houstonian Eric Davis, a Hopkins fan who felt the city sorely needed some sort of recognition for the Centerville native who made Houston his home for much of his life.

Lightnin' Hopkins
An iconoclastic performer and composer, Hopkins remains one of the most important musicians to have called Houston home. He's been the subject of an R.E.M. song, made Rolling Stone's list of the 100 most important guitarists of all time and a statue of Hopkins sits in Crockett, TX. (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction remains an inexcusable oversight.) But in Houston the only public marker tying Hopkins to the city was his gravestone in Forest Park - Lawndale Cemetery.

After visiting the gravesite, Davis began the paperwork and fundraising to get Hopkins a historical marker. At 10 a.m. Nov. 13, a dedication ceremony will begin at a piece of property owned by Project Row Houses at the corner of Dowling and Francis Streets.

Davis' next project is raising funds to buy a marker in Calvary Hill Cemetery for the gravesite of Wilson "Thunder" Smith, who played with Hopkins on some early recordings. Smith's burial site is currently unmarked.
 

Source: Houston Chronicle 10-28-2010