Clyde Hopkins Note
by Donna Greene
Title
Clyde Hopkins Note
Artist
Donna Greene
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
On the sidewalk outside the store, a brass music note was installed for Hopkins two years ago in the Beale Street Walk of Fame. The way that handprints and footprints celebrate movie stars in Hollywood, the brass notes recognize those whose lives have played a role in Memphis music.
Hopkins' note says he was born in 1927. He says he once subtracted a few years to keep himself young, that he was actually born in 1921. The note calls him "Godfather of the Blues" -- a title he claims due to age and as a link to W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues." The brass note is one of 82 on Beale from Handy to B.B. King to Elvis.
Hopkins' mother ran a Tunica, Miss., "juke joint" when he was born. She called the club Big Baby's, a nickname she earned because her 200 pounds looked large on her 5-foot frame.
They lived in the club that drew sharecroppers because of Big Baby's cooking, moonshine, gambling and "real old-time 12-bar blues." Area sharecroppers earned less than a dollar a day harvesting cotton and corn. "They spent it all on Saturday night. There wasn't anything else to do," says Hopkins.
Uploaded
May 27th, 2013
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