According to Zappa, the beginning background music was inspired by Lightnin' Slim's "Have Your Way".
Slim has been cited as a major influence by several contemporary blues artists, including Captain Beefheart, who in a 1987 radio interview with Kristine McKenna, stated that Lightnin' Slim was the only artist he could recommend somebody listening to.
Memphis Slim | William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim | Lightnin' Hopkins | Slim Dusty | Slim Thug | Carlos Slim | William Slim | Slim Jim Phantom | Slim Pickens | Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins | Amarillo Slim | The Slim Shady LP | Slim Whitman | Slim Harpo | Slim Fast | Slim | Pittsburgh Slim | Battle of Slim River | White Lightnin' | T-Bone Slim | Sunnyland Slim | Slim Willet | Slim Riahi | Slim Moon | Slim Goodbody | Slim Devices | Slim Chiboub | Slim Cessna's Auto Club | Slim Amamou | Slim 10 |
He has also sung and played guitar and harmonica as "Blast Furnace" with the band Blast Furnace and the Heatwaves and currently performs with London blues band Crosstown Lightnin'.
Within a few years, he was representing House, Hurt, White, Skip James, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins, Arthur Crudup, Junior Wells, J. B. Hutto and many others.
He was nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards 2009 for his role in White Lightnin, and won Best Actor awards at the Monterrey and Mumbai Film Festivals for the same role.
The studio was important in launching the careers of such artists as Lightnin' Hopkins, Harry Choates, George Jones, Eddie Noack, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Roy Head, and Freddy Fender.
He is also the guitarist and front man of the musical group The Bottle Rockets which have been best described as loud, interpretive Americana (the Stooges meet Lightnin' Hopkins).
This became part of a LP called "Avant Slant," which was a collage of new and already recorded sounds and songs from Milt Gabler, the poet Robert Graves, LeRoi Jones, Lightnin' Hopkins, and others.
In 1959, Hopkins was contacted by folklorist Mack McCormick who hoped to bring him to the attention of the broader musical audience which was caught up in the folk revival.
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Musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins "is the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act".
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Filmmaker Les Blank captured the Texas troubadour's informal lifestyle in his 1967 documentary The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins.
It was a hit in 1966, making it first to No. 1 in Canada in January 1966 on the RPM Top Singles chart, then to No. 1 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February and No. 11 on the UK Record Retailer chart.
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The song was also covered years later by the New York underground artist Klaus Nomi, appearing on his 1981 debut album Klaus Nomi, and was the A-side of a 1982 single accompanied by a video.
The label has released albums by influential artists such as Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lead Belly, Chris Smither, Dave Brubeck, Nina Simone, Harry Partch, John Cage and Albert King.