John Lee Hooker managed to be broadly popular but also enigmatic and inimitable. On this episode of the Escape Pod I look at a tremendous track from 1971’s Hooker ‘n’ Heat to understand what made John Lee so special and why his influence will never leave us.
As always, I’m talking all over the music and only playing snippets. That’s not how you experience music! So, after you listen to the podcast (or maybe even before), here is the playlist for music featured in the episode:
Boom Boom Boom – John Lee Hooker (1961): https://youtu.be/2SxSa6a6am4
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer – George Thorogood (1977): https://youtu.be/sDf0IwXoOmY
Wild About You Baby – Hound Dog Taylor (1973): https://youtu.be/DdXdsyDJC5Y
Boom, Boom, Boom (Blues Brothers movie) – John Lee Hooker (1980): https://youtu.be/nUUyFrHERpU
Bad Like Jessie James – John Lee Hooker (1966): https://youtu.be/zsd_jwLWrDc
Burnin Hell – John Lee Hooker (1971): https://youtu.be/mZD2eQE2yp4
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I really enjoyed this episode, Mike. Thanks for sharing. You and I had similar paths to discovering JLH………being wowed at the performance in Blues Brothers…….loving the album, The Healer, from 1989, etc.