John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues

John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, born near Clarksdale, MS. He is considered to be one of the last links to the blues of the deep South. He was raised by a sharecropping family that home-schooled all eleven children, John being the youngest. Hooker's guitar playing is very closely aligned with piano boogie woogie. Even though John lived in Detroit during much of his career, he is associated with the Chicago blues scene as much as he is with the Delta blues community. John was also illiterate but that had no effect with his prolific lyricism. He has over a hundred albums in his discography and was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991; not to mention a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He fell ill after his return from a tour of Europe in 2001 and died shortly thereafter at the age of 83. This is one of my favorite bluesman and really wish I would have gotten a chance to see him live before his death. This is John performing his 1948 single "Hobo Blues." Check out Live at Soledad Prison and Cafe Au Go-Go for some fantastic listening material.

http://www.johnleehooker.com/

Smelly Dog