Release Date: August 16, 2024.
Recording Date: April 1959 - November 1961.
Release Info: LP, Misprint, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo.
Recorded in April 1959, this was Hooker's first LP packaged for the folk/traditional blues market, where the blues legend played nothing but the acoustic guitar, and sang straight to the bone with his soul drenched vocal delivery. The album was a key change from his earlier recordings, most of which had featured Hooker on an electric guitar with his trademark reverb and stomping foot. This is an intimate session featuring standards such as "How Long Blues", "Bottle Up and Go", and his first recorded take of "Tupelo Blues", one of his all-time classics.
"Hooker is a fine blues singer, one of the very best examples today of the rural tradition. It is delightful to be able to hear a full-voiced blues singer, backing himself on country-style guitar, and singing, with the humor indispensable to performances of this sort. There's heartache, sadness, joy, and hope in these songs, and one can wish that this is the beginning of a series of Hooker recordings outside the R&B field that will get better as they go along." (Ralph J. Gleason)
"John Lee Hooker was still churning out R&B-influenced electric blues with a rhythm section for Vee Jay when he recorded this album, his first packages for the folk/traditional blues market. He plays nothing but acoustic guitar, and seems to have selected a repertoire with old-school country-blues in mind." (Richie Unterberger)
Credits: Composed By - John Lee Hooker; Cover, Design - Bernhard Wetz; Liner Notes - Paul Oliver; Photography By - Lawrence N. Shustak.
Tracklist:
- A1. Black Snake [3:33]
- A2. How Long Blues [2:16]
- A3. Wobblin' Baby [2:51]
- A4. She's Long, She’s Tall, She Weeps Like A Willow Tree [2:47]
- A5. Pea Vine Special [3:11]
- A6. Tupelo Blues [3:24]
- A7. I'm Prison Bound [3:59]
- A8. Boom Boom [2:31] *
- B1. I Rowed A Little Boat [3:29]
- B2. Water Boy [3:00]
- B3. Church Bell Tone [3:44]
- B4. Bundle Up And Go [2:14]
- B5. Good Mornin', Lil' School Girl [3:40]
- B6. Behind The Plow [4:22]
- B7. Blues Before Sunrise [3:50] *
Recorded in Detroit, Michigan; April 1959.
(*) Bonus Tracks: John Lee Hooker (guitar, vocals), Hank Cosby (tenor sax), Andrew "Mike" Terry (bass), Joe Hunter (piano), Larry Veeder (guitar), James Jamerson (bass), Benny Benjamin (drums).
Recorded in Chicago, Illinois; November 1961.