John Lee Hooker was born on August 22, 1917 in Tutwiler, MS and, to celebrate the 100th year of his birth, Vee-Jay Records (a division of Concord Bicycle Music) is releasing a brand new compilation of some of his best music.
Whiskey & Wimmen: John Lee Hooker’s Finest, out on March 31, includes material from throughout Hooker’s career including his time at Vee-Jay, Specialty, Riverside and Stax.
John Lee Hooker began his recording career in 1948 and, the next year, he had the biggest selling R&B record of the year with Boogie Chillen’. Overall, he charted eight records on the R&B Singles chart including Crawlin’ King Snake, I’m in the Mood, I Love You Honey, No Shoes and Boom Boom, all of which are included on Whiskey & Wimmen. He later went on to chart seven albums on the Billboard 200 between 1971 and 1997.
The sixteen tracks on the album show how an artist who started with literally nothing but his inspiration and talent was able to make such a lasting impact on music. His work for the Vee-Jay, Specialty and Riverside labels were many of the recordings his unshakeable legend was built on, and provide a sonic tour of what Hooker’s blues accomplished. Music journalist Bill Dahl contributes insightful new liner notes.
In the proud history of American music there have been a handful of blues artists who really did shape what the music became. They took the primal forces of Mississippi country blues and twisted and turned it into their very own creation. To hear how John Lee Hooker did that over the course of these 16 songs is a blood-rushing history lesson of all that he created. And to have them all on a single disc is as convincing a collection as has ever been assembled that, indeed, John Lee Hooker will remain the “King of the Boogie” forever.
Concord Bicycle Music’s Chief Catalog Officer Sig Sigworth said “When so much music of great importance exists, it’s thrilling to continually find ways to share that history with collections like this. It literally sounds like America at its most exciting, and honors someone who changed the way we hear and feel forever.”
The track list:
Boom Boom
Boogie Chillun
Dimples
I’m in the Mood
I Love You Honey
Whiskey and Wimmen
I Need Some Money
Grinder Man
I’m Going Upstairs
Big Legs, Tight Skirt
No More Doggin’
No Shoes
Crawlin’ Kingsnake
Frisco Blues
It Serve Me Right to Suffer
Time Is Marching
