Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992 TAG: 9202080202
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISABETH DUNHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MILL VALLEY, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
FRIENDS LEND MORE THAN A HAND TO JOHN LEE HOOKER
Blues legend John Lee Hooker put out the call. And his friends came through."John calls, I come," said Bonnie Raitt, who topped a lineup of blues stars invited to the tiny Sweetwater nightclub on a chilly January evening to perform with a man who helped shape their styles. "He's the living history of blues artistry in the world today."
Also lending their sounds to the dense, hourlong concert: Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Ry Cooder and Charlie Musselwhite.
The show was taped by the British Broadcasting Corp. for a documentary to air in Great Britain in March. U.S. cable networks likely will air the special later this year.
Hooker, one of the last living links to the Mississippi Delta tradition of blues music, influenced generations of blues, rhythm and blues and rock musicians. His guitar style, especially his signature "boogie" groove, shows up in the music of ZZ Top and the Rolling Stones.
Just about every blues performer draws on Hooker in some way.
Many of the musicians at the Sweetwater concert also performed on Hooker's recent album, "The Healer," and participated in a large tribute to him last year at Madison Square Garden.
The guest of honor, however, said he'd take a small club over the bigger venues anytime.
"You're right there with the people," he said in a telephone interview from his home south of San Francisco a few days after the show. "You can reach out and touch them. You can see the love."
During the taping, the septuagenerian bluesman brightened considerably when it came time to do a number with Raitt. He introduced the whiskey-voiced slide guitarist as "one of the nicest people in the world," and joked about the Grammy they shared last year.
"She got three, and I got one," Hooker said with a chuckle. "She told me I just had to try harder. I told her, `If I had three Grammys, I'd try too.' "
They said they chat on the phone almost every week.
"We've got so much love for each other. We just talk and crack jokes," Hooker said.
Both are up for Grammys again this year. Raitt has five nominations, including album of the year for "Luck of the Draw," and Hooker one for best traditional blues recording.
About 150 people packed the club for the private concert. Hooker's musical guests took the stage with him one by one to perform some of his standards, including "Crawlin' King Snake Blues."
Hooker was born in Clarksdale, Miss., in 1915. He eventually moved to Memphis, then Detroit, where he cut his first record in 1943. Although he may be new to many younger blues fans, Hooker was one of the most popular blues performers in the years after World War II.
"He's kind of a parallel to [blues musician] Muddy Waters, a guy who had a country blues type of background, an earthy, raw style," said blues authority and musician Steve Grills. "He's one of these transition people who came into an urban area and their music became popular."