The Man of the Blues (1948-1959)

VINYL FORMAT. After years spent traveling and playing music across the South, Hooker, like so many other Delta-born bluesmen, ended up in Detroit toward the end of WWII. After a few years spent rising up through the ranks of the legendary Hastings Street scene and purchasing his first electric guitar, in 1948 the 31-year-old blues guitarist finally got his first big break. With the help of agent Bernie Besman, and L.A.'s Modern Records, Hooker's first single, "Boogie Chillen", unexpectedly went to the top of the R&B charts. The next few years, documented in this album, were a whirlwind of hits for Hooker, who often hopped from label to label whenever the opportunity arose, changing his name to escape contracts, before finally ending up at Vee-Jay in 1955. And the hits piled up. Throughout the fifties, Hooker spread his own brand of raw, foot-stomping Delta blues across America and the world, becoming one of the most idolized and imitated musicians in the history of blues and paving the way for the blues-based rock & roll explosion of the 1960s.