Los Lobos

Texto dum certo John Bitzer, no encarte de “The Healer” (1991):

“‘When Adam and Eve first saw each other, that’s when the blues started’, says John Lee Hooker. ‘No matter what anybody says, it all comes down to the same thing: a man and a woman, a broken heart, and a broken home – you know what I mean?’

He knows what he means. He’s recorded over 100 álbuns. He’s been singing for sixty years. In that time, ‘The Hook’ has healed many hearts with his blues. A few of those he touched are on this record, hoping to touch him back.

‘What’s really cool about John Lee is that when he tells a story, the lyrics dictate what he does with the music’, Robert Cray observes. ‘Most blues artists tend to restrict themselves within a standard 12-bar structure. But with John Lee, there aren’t any rules in music’, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos adds, ‘The first time I heard him growl, my jaw hit the floor. All that power and emotion. That big old voice, man, it’s unbelievable…’

All of these artists have made their impact on John Lee, too. ‘Carlos Santana influences me as much as I influence him’, Hooker says. ‘The first time that Carlos and I did ‘The Healer’, we were so hopped up getting a chance to record together that we did only one take. It could never be better. That was the one. With Bonnie, she said that ‘I’m In the Mood’. We did just one take of that, too, and it was tremendous”.

‘All of these people were very happy to do this with me’, Hooker continues. ‘Some may call me their idol, and that makes me very happy, because they led the way for other fine musicians over the years. I love them too.”

But even though it was John Lee who drew these artists to him, he doesn’t regard himself as their inspiration. That distinction belongs to the music itself. ‘Blues is the healer’, he sings on the title track. ‘It healed me, it can heal you’. Hooker sees himself more as a chanceler of the blues than the source of it. He must reach deep into himself to find it, but its power can be tapped by anyone who feels it – both artist and audience alike. Sometimes, in fact, its power is almost too strong for even a máster like John Lee to handle.

‘My songs are like poetry. Some are pretty heavy – so heavy I can hardly carry them’, Hooker confesses. ‘Sometimes on stage, when I’m singing them, it gets so sad and deep and beautiful, I have to wear dark glasses to keep the people from seeing me crying. I’m not kidding. The tears just start running. With the words that I’m saying and the way I sing them, sometimes I give my own self the blues’.

And sometimes he is healed by them. So are we“.