Episode 4: John Lee Hooker

There is nothing under the sun more communal, less solitary, than music. Forensic musicologists know the folly of trying to identify the father of the blues or the mother of soul or the uncle of rock ‘n roll.

It’s hard to imagine a musician with a more profound sweep of the blues, itself the big brother of rock ‘n roll, than the soulful John Lee Hooker. His composition Boogie Chillun topped the charts in 1949; fifty years later, his collaboration with Van Morrison wins all the big record prizes.

puts Dylan on the bill

And if that ain’t enough, Bob Dylan’s first pro gig was opening for him at Gerde’s Folk City in 1961! As you see in above Clemens Kalischer photograph, John Lee Hooker was at the table when high society first sat down in 1950 with the insane notion that jazz could be understood by ad men, inn keepers, and squares!