Nineteen-forty-eight's "Boogie Chillen'," John Lee Hooker's first R&B hit, inaugurated the most prolific recording career in postwar blues history. (It's estimated that between 1949 and '53 alone, Hooker cut some 70 singles on 24 different labels, using a dozen different names to avoid contractual problems.) Other big R&B hits followed: "Crawlin' King Snake" in '49, "I'm in the Mood" in '51 and "Dimples" in '56.The very heartbeat of John Lee Hooker's music remains his unique songwriting, powerful voice and down-home, propulsive guitar. Like Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, and very few others, he remains a musical law unto himself, still specializing in the sparse blues and infectious boogies that first rocked the globe more than 40 years ago. As Miles Davis expressed it after a 1990 session, "John Lee, you the funkiest man alive. You sound like you buried up to your neck in mud!"
Who's come closest to playing like you?John Lee Hooker: Let's see. Eddie Taylor is real close. He can do it. Buddy Guy pretty close. He can play "Boogie Chillen" real good. He plays it on every show. Buddy Guy is playin' so well, and I'm so happy for him. He gettin' a lot of recognition that he should have had a long time ago, like us all should have got. He's such a beautiful person.
Jas Obrecht / Guitar Player
Photo By Pat Johnson
The Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker (with Eric Clapton - Boogie Chillen (Steel Wheels)