from The Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman                                  on c-bstatesman.com

News outlets from Houston reported recently that a Texas historical marker has been dedicated to Lightnin’ Hopkins, whose blues music became famous between 1946 and the 1970s.

But Hopkins’ fans in East Texas beat Houston to punch — and in a more signifi cant way — years ago.

In Crockett, resting in a little grove across the street from the Camp Street Cafe, is a statue of Lightnin’ playing his guitar.

Local historians say that Lightnin’ often showed up at the Cafe, a landmark — to entertain folks.

The statue was the result of Guy and Pipp Gillette, whose grandfather ran the cafe decades ago.

The cafe is now one of the best music venues in East Texas, thanks to the Gillette brothers.

Before Houston decided to erect the historical marker in Hopkins’ honor, the only place where he was honored was a modest footstone in Houston’s Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.

(read full story on c-bstatesman.com)