Boogie Children – Happy Birthday John Lee Hooker and Robert Cray

Besides the fact that they were both born in August – John Lee Hooker, on either August 22, 1917 or maybe 1915, 1920 or 1923, depending on what kind of mood John Lee was in when he was asked the question – and Robert Cray, born August 1, 1953 – the two guitar virtuosos actually played together, Cray’s band in its entirety backing Hooker on 1992’s “Mr. Lucky.”, not to mention Cray sitting in on selected tracks from “Boom Boom..” Both musicians have made a mark on the blues.

“I’m the first person that really got the boogie goin’” John Lee claimed, as documented in Ted Gioia’s definite book “Delta Blues” (“Hooker’s Boogie”) , but he also said he couldn’t really explain what the sound was”…It’s just there…And it just comes out.” Most musicians complained that Hooker was very hard to follow, since he admitted he never played the same song the same way twice. His “boogie” music eschewed the typical drumbeat for a pulsating, throbbing sound defined totally by Hooker’s guitar. Although Hooker was born just outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi in the heart of the Delta, it was his migration northward to Detroit in the l940s that defined his music, gave it an edge. The raw power of Hooker’s first “hit” drove it to the top of the R & B charts in 1948, even though “Boogie Children” is really just one chord repeated over and over. Although he is best known for “Boom Boom” and a plethora of other one of a kind creations, one of my personal favorites is a relatively obscure but recognizably Hooker ditty called “Drugstore Woman”, in which he lampoons “drugstore girls” for wearing “lipstick and powder” as well as “nyyy-lon stockings”, a sort of gonzo social commentary pointing out that, when it comers to romance, don’t judge the book by looking at the cover. Hooker’s life reflected his music, especially “Whiskey and Women” in which John Lee points out” I had a lot of money at one time.” He survived and prospered over bad decisions and rocky relationships by simply jamming with everyone from Canned Heat to Carlos Santana to Keith Richard to Robert Cray until John Lee Hooker died peacefully in his sleep on June 21, 2001. Hooker’s powerful “boogie” sound combined with the raw and frequently raunchy lyrics on tunes like “In the Mood,” Boom Boom”, and “Crawling Kingsnake” stands out as a significant contribution to blues and rock alike.

Robert Cray’s prowess on the guitar is equal to Hooker’s, but his style is to pluck the notes out of the strings in precise, seemingly endless riffs instead of chord progressions. I was immediately drawn to “Smoking Gun” the first time I heard it, the fluid riffs matching the rising anxiety in Cray’s voice as he describes good loving gone bad, but infidelity and conflict figure prominently in some of his best tunes like “Guess I Showed Her” and :”Chicken in the Kitchen”. Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953 in Columbus, Georgia but his breakout didn’t come until the release of his third album “Strong Persuader” which earned Cray a Grammy and the “crossover” (Meaning a song that can appeal successfully to two different musical audiences as defined by Billboard’s charts, like Country and Western and Easy Listening, or R & B and Urban Contemporary) single “Smokin’ Gun” gave him recognition. Cray’s artistry can be heard on three of John Lee Hooker’s albums, most notably on “Mr. Lucky” in 1992, the entire Cray band backing Hooker on the title track. Robert Cray has also opened several times for his friend Eric Clapton, and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011.

In a manner of speaking, the “boogie children” of August represent a generational leap from the down home backwoods sound that traveled from Mississippi to Michigan with John Lee Hooker to the more sophisticated urban musings of Robert Cray. They helped to shape Twentieth Century American music.