John Lee Hooker Box Celebrates 100th Birthday

John Lee Hooker (Photo courtesy of Fantasy Records)

Craft Recordings has announced the release of King of the Boogie, a career-spanning retrospective honoring blues great John Lee Hooker. Due out Sept. 29, the five-CD set delves into Hooker’s catalog and features hits, rarities, live recordings and several previously unreleased tracks. Housed in a 56-page book, the collection includes a wide selection of photos, taken throughout the musician’s life, plus new liner notes by writer and John Lee Hooker historian Jas Obrecht, as well as by the artist’s longtime manager and friend, Mike Kappus.

John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) was born 100 years ago yesterday (Aug. 22), near Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Tasked with narrowing down Hooker’s vast catalog into five CDs, boxed set producer Mason Williams curated the collection to narrate the artist’s story. “Even at 100 songs, this set is just a snapshot of John Lee Hooker’s incredible and influential career,” he said in a press release, “but one that takes you on the long journey he took from his early days in Detroit, to his time in Chicago recording for Vee-Jay Records and up through his later collaborations with Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt and Santana, among others.”

Related: When John Lee Hooker jammed with the Stones and Clapton

King of the Boogie will be released as part of a year-long, multi-partner centennial celebration, honoring the music and influence of Hooker, and will be a companion piece to an exhibit of the same name, which kicks off today at the Grammy Museum Mississippi. John Lee Hooker: King Of The Boogie includes Hooker’s performance outfits, guitars, photos, awards and, of course, his music. The exhibit will be on display through February 2018, before traveling west to the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live.

To pre-order King Of The Boogie, go here.

Track List

Disc 1:

1. Boogie Chillen’ – 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 [Aka 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*

John Lee Hooker photographed in San Francisco, CA April 3, 1992© Jay Blakesberg

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

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 Chillen’ – With Eric Clapton

*previously unreleased

Watch John Lee Hooker perform “It Serves Me Right to Suffer”

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