Driftin' Thru the Blues

VINYL FORMAT. There was an almost religious quality to the way John Lee Hooker saw himself as a musician: the way a preacher is a vessel for the Word of God, John Lee Hooker was a vessel for the blues. After running away from a life of back-breaking labor in the cotton fields of Mississippi at the age of 14, Hooker drifted from town to town until he ended up in the booming city of Detroit, in the early 1940's. Although Detroit's blues scene was small compared to that of Chicago, it wasn't long until young John Lee from Mississippi was a big man on campus. The five tracks on side A were recorded in Detroit between 1949 and 1950 and feature stereo recordings of mainly solo performances by John Lee Hooker. The five tracks on Side B, also recorded in Detroit, are mono recordings primarily from 1954 and feature Hooker in a band format backed by tenor sax, piano and drums.