Hop Wilson

Hardin "Hop" Wilson (April 27, 1927 – August 27, 1975) was an American blues steel guitar player. Wilson gained the nickname "Hop" as a devolution of "Harp" due to his constant playing of a harmonica as a child. His low sounding playing gave several of his tracks, even "Merry Christmas Darling", a morose, disillusioned feel. Wilson was born in Grapeland, Texas, United States, in 1927, learning to play guitar and harmonica at an early age. Acquiring his first steel guitar sometime between the age of 12 and 18, Wilson performed at various Houston clubs. After serving in the United States Army, Wilson decided to pursue a musical career. Wilson began his career performing with Ivory Lee Semien in the 1950s, recording tracks in 1957 for Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 1960, Wilson signed with Ivory Records in Houston. Wilson led recording sessions, but despised touring, and only played locally until his death in Houston in 1975. He was married to Glendora Wilson and they had one child, a daughter named Madeline. While Wilson's recording career has been characterized as "slight", he did have an influence on a variety of musicians, including Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones, who stated in 1994 "There's another guitar player called Hop Wilson. I got songs that I wrote like "Black Limousine" from him, those kinds of licks". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.