Nothing But The Blues XXIX

Is it coincidence? Is it fate. Which ever way....It all comes together today. Disc 29 is completely dedicated to John Lee Hooker. From Cuban Heels (August 13) I got to R. L. Burnside (yesterday). And with Burnside I wrote that he was inspired to 'pick up the guitar and play the blues' by an 1948 John Lee Hooker recording called Boogie Chillen. This particular song is reputed to inspire a complete generation of Blues players. Even Buddy Guy often told that it was this song that made him 'do the Blues'. And this wonderful song is on today disc!
As I mentioned earlier it is impossible to create something like 'the complete recordings of John Lee Hooker'. It is even impossible to create a 'definitive'. John Lee Hooker (1920 - 2001) had a recording career of over 50 years. He spent more or less the complete 60's in studio's. We worked for over 10 different labels. That is....as John Lee Hooker. We know he used at least 7 different names as well. This has all together resulted in over 50! original album since the mid 50's. There are over 40 compilations dedicated to John Lee Hooker. I do not even dare to guess on how many different Blues-compilations he is!
With this we get the first disc in this wonderful series which doesn't have good liner notes on the recordings. As a matter of fact, the box only contains a apology. There was so much material and so little good documentation on the recordings that they didn't even try. Fact is that these are old John Lee Hooker recordings, but still the youngest recordings in this box. Hooker didn't start recording until 1948 (as far as we know!). His first single is this infamous Boogie Chillen, which was an instant hit. The Boogie Chillen on this disc is probably (!) this particular recording. But with John Lee Hooker you never know for sure.

2000 - Nothing But The Blues - disc 29 -Sally Mae

The password = "scrooge".

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