John Lee Hooker is not an artist who plays by the rules that govern what we generally accept as “traditional” blues music—he very rarely plays in 12-bar format when he performs his songs. On his most popular tune, ‘Boogie Chillen’, his lyrical and musical phrases last anywhere as short as nine or ten, or maybe fifteen or even nineteen measures long, depending on how long he wants to “boogie” on his guitar riffs that roll and tumble between his patented vocal phrases.
Hooker’s lyrical approach is more akin to what one might expect of a jazz musician − he is literally improvising on the spot, taking any given subject matter and shape-shifting the words to paint a picture instantaneously. ‘I Got Eyes For You’ is a great example of extemporaneous vocal alchemy. On ‘Burnin’ Hell’, Hooker pounds out a rhythmic chord pattern while singing lyrics that reveal his mama and daddy telling him to go ask “Deacon Jones” to pray for him: “Ain’t no burnin’ hell…where I go, nobody [can] tell…”
Like a jazz saxophonist, he’s improvising the lyric as he’s telling a story − repeating the phrases, describing his feelings, grunting, agreeing, cajoling, using words to create verbal tension before the rhythmic vocal thrust explodes into instrumental ecstasy that inevitably follows. Listen to how he weaves his way through the lyrics of ‘Tease Me Baby (aka Tease Me Over Baby)’.
Hooker never uses a pick on his right hand − only his bare fingers to get the sound that creates such propulsive energy in every one of his performances. His thumb is his bass player, which he uses exclusively to play amazing walking bass lines and low-register countermelodies, while his index finger does the heavy lifting for all the single-note solo lines, as can be heard on ‘Grinder Man’. His middle and ring-fingers are his simultaneous harmony-keepers and rhythm makers. Often, he combines them together in a pattern using fast-flickering alternation between thumb and index finger, as demonstrated in ‘Black Cat Blues’.
Hooker can hit a chord and ring it to death with that intense, repetitious wrangling that is the most joyful blues noise ever heard. He generally uses two primary tuning setups − one is a normal E tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E, from low string to high string); ‘Walkin’ This Highway’ is a one-chord blues vamp in the key of E. The other is an open A tuning where he raises the pitch on the D, G, and B stringsup a whole step to create a resonant, sonorous (E-A-E-A-C#-E) harmony, which is ideal for right-hand, open-chord strumming. This can be heard on the splendid alternate take of ‘Boogie Chillen’’ [on side one].
And then, of course, there’s that non-stop, ever-present clap-clap-clap of his footwork − the unflappable drummer in this wondrous one-man band. He’s literally stompin’ the blues − just listen to the groove on ‘How Can You Do It’, as well as on ‘Roll ‘N’ Roll’, which later had a direct influence on Muddy Waters’ own version, called ‘Rollin’ And Tumblin’.
In a moment rarely captured on tape, Hooker does a bit of scat-singing on ‘The Story of a Married Woman’ after he exclaims, “I’m in love with the woman, scared to call her name, she’s a married woman may get somebody killed.” Also rare is the piano accompaniment (by James Watkins) on ‘Let Your Daddy Ride’, one of the few recorded tracks that doesn’t solely feature Hooker’s guitar work.
Recorded by Bernard Besman for the Sensation label between 1948-1952, this unique collection of songs captures the unique style of John Lee Hooker which forever changed the soundscape of American music
Dr. Wayne E. Goins
