Boom Boom Boom Boom: Craft Preps John Lee Hooker Centennial Box

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With a style that synthesized Mississippi Delta blues through the urban Midwest during the mid-20th century and beyond, John Lee Hooker was the blues. And now, to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday, Craft Recordings is prepping a five-disc box set, to be released next month.

King Of The Boogie collects a track for every year since Hooker’s presumed birth in 1917. The son of a sharecropper raised almost entirely on church spirituals, Hooker ran away from home at a young age, playing on Beale Street in Memphis for a time before settling down in the Hastings Street section of Detroit during World War II. His rhythmic guitar prowess and raspy talking blues vocal style eventually earned him notice from record companies, and in 1949 his “Boogie Chillun” became the year’s bestselling race record.

He spent much of the next decade recording under various pseudonyms, eventually gaining traction on the Vee-Jay label in the early ’60s, where his original “Boom Boom” and a cover of Rudy Toombs’ “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” informed and reflected the blues-based work of British Invasion acts. He was regarded as an elder statesman of rock throughout the remainder of his life, making a cameo in The Blues Brothers in 1980–the same year he was inducted into the Blues Music Hall of Fame. Honors from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame followed 11 years later, and Hooker’s reputation stood tall well after his passing in 2001.

Three of the five discs on King Of The Boogie provide an overview of Hooker’s solo career, complete with three unreleased studio outtakes. The fourth disc finds Hooker in a live setting; five of the 15 concert tracks are heard here for the first time. The fifth and final disc, “Friends,” features collaborations between Hooker and Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt and many more.

The package is rounded out with 56 pages of liner notes and photos, including writing from Hooker historian Jas Obrecht and the guitarist’s longtime manager and friend, Mike Kappus. Look for it on September 29 and check the full track list below!

King Of The Boogie (Craft Recordings, 2017)

Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.

Disc 1

  1. Boogie Chillun – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  2. Sally May – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  3. Hobo Blues – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  4. Crawlin’ King Snake – John Lee Hooker & His Guitar
  5. Black Man Blues – Texas Slim
  6. Goin’ Mad Blues – Delta John
  7. Who’s Been Jivin’ You – Texas Slim
  8. (Miss Sadie Mae) Curl My Baby’s Hair
  9. Hoogie Boogie – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  10. Burnin’ Hell – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  11. Weeping Willow Boogie
  12. Moaning Blues – Texas Slim
  13. Huckle Up Baby – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  14. Goin’ On Highway #51 – John Lee Hooker and His Guitar
  15. John L’s House Rent Boogie
  16. I’m In the Mood
  17. Two White Horses
  18. 33 Blues
  19. Sugar Mama
  20. Wobbling Baby
  21. Stuttering Blues – John Lee Booker
  22. I’m a Boogie Man – Johnny Lee
  23. Down Child
  24. Odds Against Me (Backbiters and Syndicaters)
  25. Shake, Holler and Run

Disc 2

  1. Unfriendly Woman (a.k.a. Stop Now) *
  2. Mambo Chillun
  3. Time is Marching
  4. Dimples
  5. Little Wheel
  6. I Love You Honey
  7. Drive Me Away
  8. Maudie
  9. When I Lay My Burden Down *
  10. Tupelo Blues
  11. Good Mornin’ Lil’ School Girl
  12. I Rolled and Turned and Cried the Whole Night Long
  13. No More Doggin’
  14. Dusty Road
  15. No Shoes
  16. My First Wife Left Me
  17. Crazy About That Walk – Sir John Lee Hooker
  18. Want Ad Blues
  19. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
  20. I’m Going Upstairs
  21. I Lost My Job
  22. Don’t Turn Me From Your Door
  23. Grinder Man
  24. Meat Shakes On Her Bone *

Disc 3

  1. Boom Boom
  2. Blues Before Sunrise
  3. She’s Mine
  4. Frisco Blues
  5. Good Rockin’ Mama
  6. I’m Leaving
  7. Birmingham Blues
  8. Don’t Look Back
  9. Big Legs, Tight Skirt
  10. It Serves Me Right
  11. Money
  12. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
  13. The Motor City is Burning
  14. Mean, Mean Woman
  15. Doin’ the Shout
  16. Homework
  17. Early One Morning
  18. Rocking Chair
  19. Hittin’ the Bottle Again
  20. Deep Blue Sea
  21. Spellbound

Disc 4: Live

  1. Hobo Blues
  2. Maudie
  3. Shake It Baby
  4. Boogie Chillun
  5. Bottle Up and Go
  6. Crawlin’ King Snake
  7. The Mighty Fire
  8. You’ve Got to Walk Yourself
  9. I’m Bad Like Jesse James
  10. Boogie Everywhere I Go
  11. She’s Gone *
  12. It Serves Me Right to Suffer *
  13. Boom Boom *
  14. Hi-Heel Sneakers *
  15. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer *

Disc 5: Friends

  1. I Got Eyes for You (with “Little” Eddie Kirkland)
  2. Mai Lee (with The Groundhogs)
  3. Peavine (with Canned Heat)
  4. Never Get Out of These Blues Alive (with Van Morrison)
  5. Five Long Years (with Joe Cocker)
  6. The Healer (with Carlos Santana)
  7. I’m In the Mood (with Bonnie Raitt)
  8. Sally Mae (with George Thorogood)
  9. Mr. Lucky (with Robert Cray)
  10. Up and Down (with Warren Haynes)
  11. Boom Boom (with Jimmie Vaughan)
  12. You Shook Me (with B.B. King)
  13. Don’t Look Back (with Van Morrison)
  14. Dimples (with Los Lobos)
  15. Boogie Chillun’ (with Eric Clapton)
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Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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