(October 16, 2022) The career of blues guitarist John Lee Hooker spanned the timeline of 20th Century music. In fact, it would not be too much of a stretch to say that the man who was born to sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta in 1912 is one of artists that laid the foundation for the musical genres that make up the soundtrack of post war America. Jazz, R&B, electrified blues, rock ‘n roll, country and hip-hop, all owe a debt to the contributions of blues men and women like John Lee Hooker.
(October 16, 2022) The career of blues guitarist John Lee Hooker spanned the timeline of 20th Century music. In fact, it would not be too much of a stretch to say that the man who was born to sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta in 1912 is one of artists that laid the foundation for the musical genres that make up the soundtrack of post war America. Jazz, R&B, electrified blues, rock ‘n roll, country and hip-hop, all owe a debt to the contributions of blues men and women like John Lee Hooker.
Hooker died in 2001 and he was performing up until he died in his sleep on June 21, 2001. I saw him perform in South Bend in 1999 or 2001. So, Hooker had a lot of music left in him when he released his album, The Healer, in 1989. That album earned Hooker his first Grammy award for his reinterpretation of his song “In The Mood,” that was released in 1948. Bonnie Raitt, an artist who is a blues heavyweight in her own right, teamed with her idol to turn the tune into a seductive duet. The Healer is now being reissued on vinyl and CD after more than a decade out of print.
Plenty of big-name blues artist leapt at the chance to collaborate with the legendary Hooker. In addition to Raitt, artists who performed on The Healer included George Thorogood, Charlie Musselwhite, Robert Cray, Los Lobos, Canned Heat and Carlos Santana, and it is Hooker’s collaboration with Santana on the title track that we feature in this First Listen.
Hooker is one of the Delta bluesmen who electrified the blues after moving north and realizing that he needed to amplify his sound to be heard in the Detroit clubs where he performed. So, song “The Healer” paired Hooker with one of rock and soul music’s electric guitar gods. There’s lyric in a blues song that says, “the blues ain’t nothing but a good man feelin’ bad.” With Carlos Santana deploying his trademark Latin guitar riffs, Hooker testified to the power of the blues to heal a good man who’s been done wrong by a bad woman. Check out “The Healer” here.
By Howard Dukes