Anyway, Earl Hooker was the Headhunter king in Chicago while he was alive and gigging. He could and would, play damn near anything in his sets from straight up Hillbilly to tasteful Jazz tunes. But his main forte was the blues. The blues, the whole blues and nothin' but the blues. And at this he could not be beat.
Born Earl Zebedee Hooker in Clarksdale, Miss. in 1930 (an exact date unknown, I came across 5! different days of birth in 1930 and so decided to skip it) Earl was in case you're wondering, a first cousin to John Lee Hooker. Any similarities between the two beyond that are pure coincidence. EH moved with his family to Chicago during the great exodus out of the Miss. Delta during the depression. As many blues singers have noted though, they had no idea the country was even IN a depression until they left the delta. That's how bad things were down there!
Being raised on Blues, Earl learned directly from seeing and hearing such first generation Chicago greats as Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy & Robert Nighthawk whose fluid, smooth and complex slide playing took Earl by storm, having an enormous influence on him. Earls mastery of the slide guitar was such that he was asked by Muddy Waters himself to play slide on Muddy's " You Shook Me," a tune later mangled by Led Zeppelin on their first LP. This was really quite the compliment as Muddy was one of the best slide guitar players EVER when he felt like it, though Muddy played less and less guitar as his fame and popularity rose from the early 50's into the 60's.
Returning back down south in the early 50's Earl worked with Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm Band abd cut some sides for Sun Records. One such side being an over the top take on "Steel Guitar Rag" showing Earl's affinity for country and western to great effect. With his appropriately named "Roadmasters" band, Earl nicknamed "Zeb" by his friends, spent the better part of the decade constantly touring only recording sporadically for many one off singles of his own.
The early part of the 60's saw Earl back in Chicago for the time being cutting his own chiefly instrumental singles such as an ethereal take on Joe Liggins 1952 R&B hit "Tanya" (an exotic sounding cut in the vein of "Harlem Nocturne") and "Blue Guitar," "Universal Rock," and others. This busy point in his life also found him gigging with & doing studio work with Jr. Wells, Muddy Waters, A.C. Reed & blues chanteuse Lillian Offitt. Unfortunately, Earl had contracted tuberculosis at early age and this sidelined him several times as he was building up momentum in his professional carrer and personal life.
Article comments
1 - adrian rendell
Actually, the bit about Muddy Waters is not quite right. Earl Hooker actually recorded an instrumental which was released in that format but then someone at Chess Records thought it would be a good idea for Muddy Waters to overdub some vocals. This was what was done and the record was re-released under Muddy's name.
2 - Lisa Lauenti
Yeah, the record was originally released under Earl Hooker's name as "Blue Guitar" having been recorded in May 1961. Muddy's vocals were overdubbed on June 27th 1962 and the new version was released as "You Shook me" under his name. Because this formula was so succesful, Chess repeated it with the songs "you need love" and "Little Brown Bird" but ther is no evidence,at least as far as the undersigned is aware, that Muddy and Earl recorded on the same sessions nor, indeed, that Earl had any further involvement whatsoever after he cut the original recordings from which Muddy's versions were derived.
3 - Adrian Rendell
Sorry, slight typographical error in my last message. It's "Lisa Laurenti"
4 - Bas Jean (Paris Blues Web )
Earl Hooker was my favorite blues guitariste. A master of nuance and soulful feeling. A boss of the wahwah, swing blues, country blues, and a great slide player. But I am surprised that little is said about the great players that he directly influenced, and taught. Four years ago, Earl Hooker's original lap steel player was in Paris (the great Freddie Roulette) and the young San Francisco guitariste trained by Earl's band from childhood, Ray Bronner. The Show was at Lionel Hampton Club. John Lee Hooker gave an interview to a French fanzine (about 20 years ago) mentioning Roulette and Bronner as the best examples of Earl's style of playing. They still play together, and have recorded Earl's music, with some critical recognition by other musicians. I heard it once, and liked it very much. The band name (I think?) is the Daphne Blue Band. But when I was in New York, I could not find a shop with the CD. If someone can find it, please make a post to me.
5 - raggedy
I am new to the Blues, and I loved "Blue Guitar" by Earl Hooker the first time I've heard it. Now I am looking for a good starter CD of his for my Blues collection. But -- I get mad as hell, when I see that most CD's offered have not even one sound clip available. This is downright ridiculous! Before I buy I'd like to be able to hear what I'm going to pay for.
6 - lookah
emusic.com has some of his albums and allows previews...
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Earl-Hooker-MP3-Download/10559402.html
7 - lookah
emusic.com has previews...
8 - Bianca
Earl Hooker was my grandfather, I wish I would have had the chance to meet him
9 - Bianca
If any reads this knows how to get in contact with any of his family please let me know. I will check this site.
10 - Reginald
Yes, I knew Earl Hooker well. His Son lives in Atlanta but was originally from chicago. His son ANDRE is my 1st cousin. He looks exactly like earl
and when Earl died from Tuberculosis, he left Andre all of his Instruments and other musical things from earls band.
I can get in touch with him , anytime