Les Blank was one of the most talented and prolific documentarians of all time—many know him for his wildly variant choice of subjects. He did a doc on women with diastemata, one on the sustainability of the Chinese tea market, and my favorite, the 20-minute-long anti-capitalist classic, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, in which Werner Herzog (you guessed it) eats his shoe (He lost a bet). Blank’s wheelhouse however was always regional American music and The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins—a gorgeous little film—radiates with his reverence for the Texas legend.

The short avoids explicit biography, choosing instead to record intimate musical moments and the ambient humanity of Hopkins’ world—it even credits “the people of Texas, 1967” among its “cast.” There are amazing performances of course, but they’re set against the lush community of Centerville, Texas, Hopkins’ boyhood town. His hypnotic performances emanate from living rooms, dirt roads, a barbeque and even a black rodeo—it’s an ethnographic pictorial as much as anything.

Hopkins was a bit of an anomaly as far as bluesmen went, though much of his early story is reminiscent of his peers. He actually met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas when he was 8, eventually becoming his protégé. He tried to break into music early on, spent some time in a labor prison in his twenties, and eventually returned to Centerville to work as a farm hand. Hopkins only managed to avoid blues “has-been” and “never-was” cliches with a bit of luck and a tenacious recording schedule.

By the 1950’s he had gained a following, and he just never stopped working. Hopkins not only rode the folk revival, he adapted to the changing scene, even recording an album with Texas psychsters the 13th Floor Elevators. He toured constantly and was the poet-in-residence of Houston, Texas for 35 years. He remains the most prolific blues recording artist.