SHOUT! FACTORY HONORS MASTER BLUESMAN JOHN LEE
HOOKER WITH FIRST-EVER CAREER BOX SET
Deluxe 4-CD Set Represents A Half Century Of
Blues And Boogie
Includes Performances with Eric Clapton, Robert
Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, Ry
Cooder, Jimmie Vaughan, Charles Brown and Los Lobos
In Stores October 31, 2006
LOS ANGELES – John Lee Hooker, master bluesman
and undisputed father of boogie, recorded for more
than 30 labels over a span of nearly 50 years.
Amazingly, he has never had a definitive career box
set – until now. On October 31, 2006, Shout! Factory
will release Hooker, a 4-CD set that culls material
from all eras – from a primitive 1948 recording of
“Boogie Chillen’” to a version of the same song
recorded exactly 50 years later in 1998 with Eric
Clapton.
The set was compiled by Shawn Amos and Patrick
Milligan with invaluable assistance from Zakiya
Hooker, Executor-Trustee and Eugene Skuratowicz,
Estate Manager of the John Lee Hooker Estate. Music
journalist Ted Drozdowski wrote comprehensive liner
notes, which delve into Hooker’s Mississippi and
African influences, and follow his career through
its many achievements and accolades up to his death
in 2001. In addition, Van Morrison, Carlos Santana
and Fito de la Parra, the surviving member of Canned
Heat, provided additional notes recalling their
respective collaborations with Hooker, highlights of
which appear on the 4-CD set.
Born in 1917 to Mississippi sharecroppers, John
Lee Hooker first heard blues on a wind-up Victrola
and on KFFA-FM in nearby Helena, Ark. His parents
were convinced that blues was the music of the devil
and insisted that he practice in the barn. His
stepfather, Louisiana guitarist Will Moore, brought
John Lee in contact with what annotator Drozdowski
calls the “rolling, mesmeric beat” of Shreveport
blues, “which had more in common with the ancestral
African origins of the music than the Delta sound.”
He was also inspired by Delta blues forebears Blind
Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton.
Hooker migrated to Memphis, and then to Detroit,
where he supported himself and his family playing
rent parties, the inspiration for his John L.’s
House Rent Boogie album in 1951. A rough acetate
recording fell into the hands of local producer
Bernie Besman, launching his recording career and
leading to a series of 78s and 45s on labels like
Fortune, Modern, King, Staff, Regal, Deluxe, Chess,
Crown, Vee-Jay and Sensation. He recorded under
several noms du disque: John Lee Cooker, John Lee
Booker, Texas Slim, Birmingham Sam & His Magic
Guitar, Johnny Williams, Delta John and Sir John Lee
Hooker.
In the late ’60s, Hooker’s audience began to
include white fans. Boogie disciples Canned Heat
brought him to the attention of their fan base with
the 1970 double album Hooker ‘N Heat. Hooker
achieved legendary status, and went on to make a
series of albums for ABC BluesWay, Impulse, Tomato,
Pausa, Chameleon and Virgin/Pointblank. 1989’s The
Healer, which included collaborations with Carlos
Santana and Bonnie Raitt, earned him a Grammy® and
brought him to the attention of a new generation of
fans.
“I hope this set will introduce John Lee Hooker
to a new generation of fans, and reintroduce him to
those who might have forgotten,” says Shout! Factory
A&R head Shawn Amos. “It shows how much gravitas he
held in his presence, and even in a single note of
his playing.”
Zakyia Hooker, John Lee Hooker’s daughter, adds,
“I think this is phenomenal, to have all of my
father’s music pulled together. It cuts through a
really wide swath of music, from music recorded at a
1949 house party and an old acoustic spiritual, to
his later music. The music was all over the place
until Shout! Factory pulled it together for the
edification of everyone – and they did so in a
beautiful package. My father would have been smiling.”
About Shout! Factory:
Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment
company devoted to producing, uncovering and
revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders
Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent
their careers sharing their music, television and
film faves with discerning consumers the world over.
Shout! Factory’s DVD offerings serve up classic,
contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports
programs, live music, animation and documentaries in
lavish packages crammed with extras. The company’s
audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY®-nominated boxed sets,
new releases from storied artists, lovingly
assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of”
compilations. These riches are the result of a
creative acquisitions mandate that has established
the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and
commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in
Santa Monica, Calif. Its fine products are
distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment Inc. For
more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.
# # #
HOOKER -
4cd-BOX-SET on Shout! Factory (US)
- out on October 31, 2006
Catalog #: 826663-10198
Note: (recording dates)
Disc One - Detroit: 1. Boogie
Chillen' (9/48) 2. Sally Mae (9/48)
3. Black Man Blues - Texas Slim (11/48)
4. Hobo Blues (9/48) 5. Hoogie Boogie
(2/49) 6. Weeping Willow Boogie (7/49)
7. Crawlin' King Snake (9/48) 8. Driftin' From Door To Door (9/48) 9.
Catfish Blues (1951) 10. Moses Smote The
Water (1951) 11. Huckle Up Baby
(12/49) 12. Wandering Blues - Texas
Slim (8/49) 13. Don't You Remember Me
- Texas Slim (3/50) 14. Notoriety
Woman (4/50) 15. Let Your Daddy Ride
(2/50) 16. John L's House Rent Boogie
(11/50) 17. Bumble Bee Blues - Johnny
Williams (1950) 18. Leave My Wife
Alone - John Lee Booker (4/51) 19.
Just Me And My Telephone (4/51) 20. I'm In
The Mood (8/51) 21. Blues For Big Town
(1952) 22. Stuttering Blues - John Lee
Booker (7/53) 23. Down Child (1953)
24. Boogie Rambler (5/54) 25. Baby You
Ain't No Good (1954) 26. I'm Ready
(1955)
Disc Two - Chicago: 1. Dimples (3/56)
2. Every Night (3/56) 3. I'm So
Excited (3/57) 4. I Love You Honey
(6/58) 5. Tupelo Blues (4/59) 6.
I Need Some Money (2/60) 7. Democrat
Man (2/60) 8. No More Doggin' (2/60)
9. Gonna Use My Rod (2/60) 10. Whiskey
And Wimmen (3/60) 11. No Shoes (3/60)
12. We're All God's Chillun - Sir John Lee
Hooker (7/60) 13.
I'm Goin' Upstairs (1/61) 14. Teachin'
The Blues (7/61) 15. You Lost A Good
Man (7/61) 16. Don't Turn Me From Your
Door (7/61) 17. When My First Wife
Quit Me (c. 1961) 18. Boom Boom (12/61)
19. She's Mine (12/61) 20. Frisco Blues
(1962) 21. Birmingham Blues (1963)
22. Big Legs Tight Skirt (1964) 23. It
Serves Me Right To Suffer (1964) 24. I'm Losin' You (11/64) 25. I Cover The
Waterfront (11/64)
Disc Three - Coast to Coast:
1. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
(5/66) 2. Let's Go Out Tonight (5/66)
3. Bottle Up And Go (11/65) 4. Let's
Make It - Live (10/62) 5. King Of
The World (10/65) 6. I'm Bad Like
Jesse James - Live (8/66) 7. Think Twice Before You Go (11/67)
8. Mean Mean Woman (9/68) 9. Burning Hell
- John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat (5/70)
10. Peavine - John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat
(5/70) 11. I Got My Eyes On You - John
Lee Hooker & Canned Heat (5/70) 12. Doin' The Shout (11/70) 13. Bluebird
(5/74) 14. Early One Morning (1982)
15. We'll Meet Again (1986) 16. Loving
People (1991)
Disc Four - Frisco: 1. Baby Lee - John
Lee Hooker & Robert Cray (10/87) 2.
I'm In The Mood - John Lee Hooker & Bonnie
Raitt (4/88) 3. The Healer - John Lee
Hooker & Carlos Santana (4/88) 4. Mr.
Lucky - John Lee Hooker & Robert Cray (1991)
5. I Cover The Waterfront - John Lee Hooker
& Van Morrison (4/90) 6. This Is Hip -
John Lee Hooker & Ry Cooder (5/91) 7.
Bottle Up And Go - John Lee Hooker & John
Hammond (1990) 8. Same Old Blues Again
- John Lee Hooker & Robert Cray (1991)
9. Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker & Jimmie
Vaughan (8/92) 10. Chill Out (Things
Gonna Change) - John Lee Hooker & Carlos
Santana (4/91) 11. Tupelo (7/93)
12. Kiddio - John Lee Hooker & Charles Brown
(1994) 13. Dimples - John Lee Hooker &
Los Lobos (9/96) 14. Don't Look Back - John
Lee Hooker & Van Morrison (4/96) 15.
Up And Down - John Lee Hooker & Johnnie
Johnson (5/91) 16. Mean Mean World -
John Lee Hooker & Zakiya Hooker (1991)
17. Boogie Chillen' - John Lee Hooker & Eric
Clapton (6/98)
Comment from the editor of this web site,
Claus Röhnisch:
Well - what a well-planned issue - a dream come true - with almost the identical
tracks to my "Anniversary - phantasy" set!