Earl Hooker Blues Master By Sebastian Danchin
(University Of Mississippi Press)

 Known to blues fans as an endlessly inventive and brilliant slide guitar player, Earl Hooker's life has remained something of a cipher. Hooker achieved some measure of fame only shortly before he died and had never been formerly interviewed in his lifetime. Press clippings were also scant leaving writer Sebastian Danchin with the arduous task of crafting Hooker's biography from oral sources. After ten years of research, Danchin has done a remarkable job not only illuminating Hooker's life but also putting the story in a cultural context that tells us much about the blues and the African-American experience.

 Hooker was born in 1929 outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi and moved to Chicago's southside with his parents when he was just a baby. He took an early interest in music getting his first guitar when he was ten. In a pattern that followed for the rest of his life Hooker was totally absorbed by music, especially the blues, and showed little interest in school or anything else besides playing music. At an early age he ran away from home and headed down south where he could feed his desire to play music.

 This restless need to hit the road was one of Hooker's most enduring traits and he spent over twenty-five years of his short existence burning up U.S. highways. Like most bluesman of the time he played extensively in the south running with legends like Ike Turner and the mythical Robert Nighthawk who was a prime influence on on Hooker's slide style.

 The author does a amazing job of chronologically following Hooker's path, no easy task for a man who literally played everywhere. The book is littered with many colorful stories centering around Hooker's unique personality; he was notoriously tight with money, was known for his "sticky fingers" when new equipment was needed and perhaps most audaciously used impersonators in his band claiming to have Littler Walter or Jr. Wells in the band to get more money a scheme that backfired on more than one occasion.

 If Hooker's brilliant playing and stage show was known to black audiences and had garnered the admiration of his peers he remained little known outside the insular blues world. Partly this was due to the fact that Hooker recorded sporadically with most recording sessions being fly by night affairs. Secondly he tended to record mostly instrumentals never confident in his singing voice.

 Hooker's fortunes took an upswing in 1969 a pivotal year that Danchin spends an entire chapter on. Hooker's fame was finally reaching a larger audience laying down no less than ten recording sessions in a six month period, getting written up in the leading blues magazines and triumphantly touring Europe. Unfortunately time was running out for Hooker who had been suffering from tuberculosis his whole life, a condition he never treated properly. He died April 21, 1970 at the age of 40.

 Earl Hooker Blues Master is assuredly the definitive look at the brilliant guitarist written in exhaustive detail by Mr. Danchin. As the author writes, Hooker was the "epitome of the modern itinerant bluesman" and in telling his story you will also learn much about the culture of the blues.

(Jeff Harris)

Iceman Robinson: I've Never Been Loved (Fedora)

 Fedora Records seems to specialize in giving little known but deserving bluesman a chance to grab some wider acclaim. A case in point is Iceman Robinson who's I've Never Been Loved, his first under his own name, is a tough, gritty Chicago blues effort that evokes memories of Elmore James and Hound Dog Taylor.

 Robinson followed the familiar route to Chicago arriving in the windy city in 1956 from Carroll County, Mississippi. Robinson's blues career was held back by the need to keep a day job and his close ties to the church. When he could he honed his chops at clubs like Pepper's Lounge and on Maxwell Street where he played with people like LV Banks and Queen Sylvia Embrey. I've Never Been Loved is a fine rough and tumble blues record harking back to the classic Chicago blues sound of the 50's.

 Iceman Robinson plays raw boned slide very much in that loose Hound Dog Taylor style. The ghost of Hound Dog Taylor surfaces on a stellar cover of "Sadie", the rocking, boogie feel on the instrumental "Robnson's Rock" and the driving "Waitin' On My Baby." Other covers include Elmore James, an obvious influence, on the intense "My Baby's Comin' Home" and Howlin' Wolf on "Baby How Long." A couple of the best cuts are autobiographical numbers like the brooding "Too Old A Cat" and the tough "I've Never Been Loved" where he sings "my daddy didn't like me, throwed me off in the world" reflecting on the start of a life filled with the blues.

 The liner notes rightly point out that there are very few artists who play Robinson's intense, slide driven style anymore which makes I've Never Been Loved all the more valuable. Once again hat's off to Fedora for documenting this fading blues tradition.

(Jeff Harris)

Lightnin' Hopkins: Lightnin' & The Blues-
The Herald Sessions (Buddha)

 Had Lightnin' Hopkins' Herald sessions been his only accomplishment, he'd still be the legend he is now. He rambled into a studio, pulled out the electric guitar and amplifier, put himself in the company of a rude and powerful rhythm section of bass and drums, and let loose. Having been taken advantage of by record labels in the past, he became one tough cat. He was pretty much willing to record for anyone, but only if you put the cash in his hand first. He wanted to hear nothing of royalties, future payment schedules, or possibilities; figuring the best way to avoid getting ripped-off again was to get the cash in his pocket, cut his sides, and walk away. Thankfully, the cash was there in 1954 when Hopkins waxed these sides.

 Comprised of 16 tracks, this is some of the finest blues you're liable to come across. Hopkins did record in settings similar to this, but never with quite the amount of success shown here. The slow and direct "Nothin' But The Blues" starts the disc and it's evident that Lightnin' was in rare form. His playing is as raw as any of his contemporaries and years ahead of its time, while "Lightnin's Boogie" is a rollicking mid-tempo workout with Sam talking over some fine guitar as the bands shuffles along in support. Guitar Slim's "The Things I Used To Do" was big at the time, and Hopkins' own "Life I Used To Live" owes more than a small debt of thanks. The brooding "Sick Feelin' Blues" is a gut-wrenching drag with some fiery six string, as is "Evil Hearted Woman." The slower pace continues for the next four and "My Baby's Gone" features more of the slashing, distorted guitar that came from these dates. Things get back to cruising speed with "Lightnin's Special" and "My Little Kewpie Doll," another showcase for Lightnin's dexterity on the fretboard as slurs and piercing notes buzz around. "Shine On Moon" slows back the charge and the seemingly made-up-on-the-spot "Had A Gal Called Sal" ripples along with the rhythm section staying tight throughout. "Remember Me" is another slow blues and the disc closes out with the storming romp of "Movin' On Out Boogie," full of crippling rhythms, blazing double-stops, and sizzling leads.

 While there's no shortage of Lightnin' Hopkins material, this CD, with a dozen-plus-four cuts and a mid-line list price of $11.98, is worth the expense. Much easier to locate than an import Hopkins/Herald set from last year, it also follows hot on the heels of Buddha's March release of a fine Elmore James disc. A few minor knocks are that it's an incomplete look at some of Lightnin's finest material, and a pile-up of seven slower tracks, one directly after the other, following track three. Hopkins' two 1954 Herald dates provided a total of twenty six sides, and with better than 70 minutes of available playing time on CD's, the glass is about two-thirds full. On the plus side, sound is top quality and packaging is strong with a nice cover shot of the 'Houston flash.' Add to that, Lightnin's sense of fun and good times, and a barrage of paralyzing guitar played by a man with an unconventional style, and the outcome is definitely favorable. Perhaps there's more planned to fill out the complete picture. www.buddharecords.com