Earl Hooker, blues master / Sebastian Danchin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Danchin, Sebastian.

Series:

American made music series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hooker, Earl, 1929-1970.

Hooker, Earl.

Blues musicians--United States--Biography.

Blues musicians.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvii, 389 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2001]

Summary:

Earl Hooker's life story has all the elements of a great blues song -- late nights, long roads, poverty, trouble, and a soul-felt pining for what could have been. Until his last year, he had only a few singles on obscure labels to show for a lifetime of work. The situation changed in the 1960s as droves of young whites seeking authentic American blues tunes created a blues album boom and put Hooker on the verge of international success. But when he died in 1970, his star went out. Only his peers remained to praise his talent and pass on his legend.

Jimi Hendrix called him "the master of the wah-wah pedal." Buddy Guy, hoping to tap some of the elder bluesman's power, slept with one of Hooker's slides beneath his pillow. B. B. King said repeatedly that for his money Hooker was the best guitar player he ever met.

Second cousin to now-famous bluesman John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker was born in Mississippi in 1929 and was reared in black South Side Chicago, where his parents settled in 1930. He was a "musician's musician," defining the art of blues slide guitar and playing with such greats as Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, and B. B. King. A favorite at black clubs, a local star with neighborhood bar audiences in the Midwest, and a seasoned entertainer in the rural Deep South, Hooker spent over twenty-five years burning up highways and making brilliant appearances wherever he played.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Early Years (1929-1946) 3

Chapter 2 On the Road (1946-1953) 24

Chapter 3 The Memphis Scene (1953) 57

Chapter 4 The Chicago Complex (1953-1956) 69

Chapter 5 Zeb Hooker (1956-1960) 93

Chapter 6 The London Years (1960-1963) 119

Chapter 7 Guitars, Cars, and Women 147

Chapter 8 A Man of Many Styles 161

Chapter 9 Club Gigs and Road Trips 180

Chapter 10 Hooker and Cuca (1964-1967) 211

Chapter 11 Two Bugs and a Roach (1967-1968) 237

Chapter 12 Nineteen Sixty-Nine 263

Chapter 13 Goin' Down Slow (1969-1970) 301.

Notes:

Discography (p. 345-367).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-343) and index.

ISBN:

157806306X

1578063078

OCLC:

44454632