Barbara Dane & Lightning Hopkins – Sometimes I Believe She Loves Me / Arhoolie CD-451

A spontaneous live recording by blues and folk singer Barbara Dane with Houston, Texas blues icon Lightning Hopkins during an afternoon gathering at Berkeley’s legendary coffee house, the Cabale, in the early 60’s, with Barbara on acoustic and Lightning on electric guitars.

The first half of this CD is Lightning and Barbara improvising on the spot, while the second half is comprised of Barbara performing classic blues and other songs, with Ray Skjelbred playing piano on most. These selections reflect Barbara’s social consciousness at the time, including a superb rendition of Woody Guthrie’s moving “Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).”

All previously unreleased, except #1, 2, 3, 8, and 17 which appeared on ARH LP 1022.

1. I’m Going Back, Baby
2. I Know You Got Another Man
3. Sometimes I Believe She Loves Me
4. Baby, Shake That Thing
5. It’s A Lonesome Old Town
6. Don’t Push Me (‘Til You Find Out What I Want)
7. Let Me Be Your Rag Doll
8. Mother Earth
9. Mama Told Papa
10. Careless Love
11. Love With A Feeling
12. Betty And Dupree
13. Don’t You Push Me Down
14. Bury Me In My Overalls
15. Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)
16. Hold On (Keep Your Eyes On The Prize)
17. Jesus Won’t You Come By Here (Jesus Will You Come By Here)

REVIEW

“On a summer afternoon in 1964, East Bay blues and folk singer Barbara Dane and producer Chris Strachwitz met at the Cabale to cut a record. Among the invited guests was Texas blues titan Sam ‘Lightnin’ Hopkins, who joined Dane for nine songs on which the two engaged in some frequently witty, mostly off-the-cuff musical repartee Now, 32 years after the fact, come the complete sessions; duets have a special charm, her previously unissued solo selections are often transcendent, particularly the blues standards ‘Careless Love’ and ‘Betty and Dupree,’ and Malvina Reynolds’ slyly political ‘Bury Me in My Overalls.’ Dane’s booming, brilliantly elastic alto voice rings with clarity and uncanny conviction.”

-Lee Hildebrand, East Bay Express