John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder - Crawling King Snake

This is a live performance by John Lee Hooker playing his classic song "Crawling King Snake" live. On stage he is joined by guitarist Ry Cooder who's sitting in on this tune.
The song was originally written and recorded by John Lee Hooker. It is one of his many famous songs and it has also been covered by many different artists. One of them being The Doors who recorded a version of the song and released it in 1971. The song has also been done by: George Thorogood, Etta James, John P. Hammond, and Buddy Guy to name a few. (I've embeded Buddy Guy's version beneath, he plays it acoustic and with a lot of conviction and atmosphere, a solo acoustic recording, like the old blues players would have done it.)

It's a great and classic blues song, and Hooker plays it his way which is the right way. Cooder doesn't show off much in this, but then again when you're with the greats you hold back a bit. Both performances of this great blues song are great.

Enjoy ; )

Eric Clapton - Five Long Years

This is a live performance by blues artist Eric Clapton playing his version of the classic blues song "Five Long Years".
The song is one of the most widely covered blues standards of all time. It was originally written and recorded by Eddie Boyd in 1952. It did very well in the USA R&B Chart. The song was also inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011.
I really love Clapton's energetic and up-tempo take on this great classic. This performance is from the unreleased Martin Scorsese film "Nothing But The Blues".
The song has been done by a number of legendary blues musicians, such as: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker with Van Morrison, The Yardbirds, B.B. King, Ike & Tina Turner, Freddie King, Colin James, and Buddy Guy, and many more.
It's a great song and Clapton plays it flawlessly in this performance. Truly an amazing performance.

Enjoy ; )

John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues

This is a live performance by legendary blues musician and song writer John Lee Hooker playing his classic song "Hobo Blues". The performance is from 1965 at the American Folk Blues festival.
It's a self-accompanied performance by Hooker. He taps the rhythm with his foot, plays the rhythm on the guitar and also plays the melody at the same time. At points in the song he also hums the melody on top of playing it on the guitar. I really love this performance. The fact that it's self-accompanied just makes it better and shows a skill that very few people had back then, and even fewer people have today. You can also hear Hooker's influence on slide guitar through his use of open tunings. He doesn't use a slide himself, but uses the tunings many slide players would later also use. (Of course I know that slide guitar existed way before John Lee Hooker, but many slide players, for instance Ry Cooder, have quoted John Lee Hooker as an influence).
The song was originally released as a single in 1948 which was also the year it appeared on Hooker's LP "The Blues" released on Crown records.
As mentioned earlier it's a great song and a great performance. One of Hooker's best.

Enjoy ; )

John Lee Hooker - Tupelo

This is a live performance by blues legend John Lee Hooker playing his classic song "Tupelo" live on acoustic guitar. The song is about an actual flood that occurred in the Mississippi Delta around 1936 and destroyed many homes and killed many people. The song captures the desperation, describes the mood and tension of the situation and tells of people turning to religion to save them from the flood.
It's a great sad and tragic song by Hooker. It shows just how powerful simple guitar playing and a voice like his turns out to be artistic and beautiful.
Floods, hurricanes and bad weather are often the subject of blues songs. As is also the case with "Hurricane Beulah" and "Texas Flood".
It's a really good song inspired by the tradition of self-accompanied Delta blues which Hooker mastered to perfection. This is a man in his element doing what he does best: Singing and playing the blues.

Enjoy ; )

John Lee Hooker feat. Bonnie Raitt - I'm in the Mood

This is a clip from the music video to the John Lee Hooker and Bonnie Raitt collaboration "I'm in the Mood".
The song is from Hooker's 1989 record "The Healer" which was a somewhat successful record for him peaking on no. 62 on the Billboard 200. The album featured collaborations on almost every single track, the guest artists included: Robert Cray, Carlos Santana and band, Los Lobos and of course Bonnie Raitt.
It's a very good album that really shows all aspects of what Hooker was as an artist. It features the bigger jazzy laid back thing on the Santana collaboration and there's also three tracks where Hooker accompanies himself in the style of the 30's and 20's, very cool indeed.
The cool thing is that the video is snapped from an old MTV broadcast. Remember? MTV used to play music videos, and good videos featuring talented artists. Wow miss those days, but at least we still have access to all of that through the computer.

Enjoy ; )

Cream - Sitting on Top of the World (Robert Cray)

This is a live version of the song "Sitting on Top of the World" live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005. It was their reunion concert.
The song has a long history of covers and various performers. It was originally written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. It has been covered by an area of well known blues artists such as: Robert Cray, Big Bill Broonzy, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Jack White and B.B. King.
The version Cream covered was the one recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1957. The Cream version was released in 1968. I think that these bluesy interpenetrations of this classic song are both great. I also really like it the way Robert Cray plays it. It's a little more laid back and a little slower, and of course his playing adds to the experience. (Cray version embeded below).

I think it's a really good performance, and I really think that Cream did an amazing job on this. Clapton's playing is superb, Ginger's drumming is fitting and not too over the top and Jack Bruce sings the song beautifully and plays the harmonica on it as well. A great performance, no two great performances!

Enjoy ; )

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Hug You, Squeeze You

This is a live performance by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He performs the song "Hug You, Squeeze You", an up beat happy blues song.
The song is a take off, or maybe even a cover of a John Lee Hooker song that at least have very similar lyrics. The John Lee Hooker version is simply titled "I Want To Hug You".
This is a song that Stevie didn't perform very often, and it's also in a key that Stevie didn't use very much. It's played in the key of E. As most people who are fans of Stevie probably know, he tuned his guitar down one half step. This means that the key you get when playing a straight forward shuffle blues starting on the lowest string is in the key of Eb. Stevie basically forms what on a regularly tuned guitar would be an F chord, and takes it from there. So this is one of those rare occasions where Stevie is playing in the key of E on a guitar tuned in the key of Eb essentially. I think this is the only song where he does this, but I'm not sure.
Any ways, it gives the song and performance a unique sound.
It's a great performance, and a great song.

Enjoy ; )

Buddy Guy & Eric Clapton - Worried Life Blues

This is a performance by Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy. They perform one of the most covered blues standards ever made. It was first recorded in 1941by Big Maceo as a mid-tempo 8-bar blues. Since then it's become one of the most covered songs in history, the list is almost endless.
What a list (source Wikipedia).  I like this version though, Clapton singing and Buddy and Clapton doing solos and a nice piano solo as well. A really nice performance.

Enjoy ; )

• 1941 Bill Gaither
• 1942 Sonny Boy Williams
• 1942 Honeyboy Edwards
• 1945 Big Maceo as "Things Have Changed" (reached #4 in Billboard R&B chart^[2])
• 1946 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
• 1949 Charles Brown as "Trouble Blues" (spent 15 weeks at #1 in Billboard R&B chart)
• 1950 Lightnin' Hopkins (also recorded "New Worried Life Blues" and "Someday Baby")
• 1952 Sonny Parker
• 1954 John Lee Hooker (also recorded later version)
• 1955 Muddy Waters as "Trouble No More" (reached #7 in Billboard R&B chart)
• 1957 Big Bill Broonzy
• 1958 Ray Charles as "Someday Baby" (a very faithful version of "WLB" except for the title) from The Genius Sings the Blues (also recorded later version)
• 1959 Little Walter from Essential Little Walter
• 1960 Otis Spann from Otis Spann Is the Blues
• 1960 Chuck Berry from Rockin' at the Hops
• 1963 Johnny Jones with Billy Boy Arnold (also recorded later version)
• 1963 Jimmy Reed (also recorded "Someday Baby")
• 1964 Mississippi Fred McDowell as "Fred's Worried Life Blues" from Fred McDowell: Mississippi Delta Blues^[5]
• 1965 The Animals from Animal Tracks, The Animals On Tour
• 1966 Big Joe Williams (also recorded "Someday Baby" in 1941)
• 1966 Blues Magoos from Psychedelic Lollipop
• 1968 Junior Wells from Coming At You
• 1968 Lowell Fulson from The Complete Kent Recordings 1964-1968 (also recorded 1984 version as "Worried About The Blues" on One More Blues)
• 1969 Johnny Shines with Big Walter Horton from Johnny Shines with Big Walter Horton
• 1969 Junior Parker (aka Little Jr. Parker) Charting 45 rpm single (Minit 32080 1969) (R&B # 34)
• 1970 B.B. King as "Ain't Gonna Worry My Life Anymore" from Indianola Mississippi Seeds (also recorded 1960 version as "Someday Baby," which his former record label released in 1970 as "Worried Life Blues," which reached #48; also recorded 2000 version with Eric Clapton on Riding with the King)
• 1971 Freddie King from Getting Ready
• 1971 Mississippi Fred McDowell from Live in New York
• 1973 Canned Heat with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown from Live at Montreaux
• 1974 Robert Jr. Lockwood with The Aces from Blues Live in Japan
• 1980 Eric Clapton from Just One Night
• 1991 Louis Myers from Tell My Story Movin'
• 1992 Pinetop Perkins from On Top
• 1993 Robben Ford from Mystic Mile
• 1993 Luther Tucker & The Ford Blues Band from Luther Tucker & The Ford Blues Band
• 1996 James Cotton from Deep In the Blues
• 1999 Jimmy Rogers from Blues Blues Blues
• 2003 Pearlene as "You Done Told Everybody" from Murder Blues & Prayer
• 2006 Bob Dylan as "Someday Baby" from Modern Times
• 2007 Clutch as "Electric Worry" from From Beale Street to Oblivion (the band have stated that inspiration for this song came from the McDowell version)^[6]
• 2007 Procol Harum from One Eye to the Future
• 2010 Night Horse from Perdition Hymns

John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom

This is a performance from the 60's by blues legend John Lee Hooker. He performs it with an electric guitar accompanied by himself. It's a great performance, and the foot tapping is just excellent and done with perfect timing. It's a nice throw back to the roots of the blues, artists like Robert Johnson who would also tap the rhythm with his foot as he was recording. Now it's just done with an electric guitar instead.
The song also gained some notoriety when featured in "The Blues Brothers", John himself cameos in the film as a South Side Chicago street musician.
A great song, and a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Correction - Wrong Song Title

Correction for this post: Eric Clapton - If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
I recently posted a song that I at the time thought was called "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day". It isn't a wrong title, but the song has several titles depending on who recorded it.
The original title is "Rollin' and Tumblin'", but Robert Johnson recorded the song under the title "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day" and John Lee Hooker recorded a version under the title "Rollin' Blues". The most famous version is Muddy Waters' version under the title "Rolling and Tumbling", removing the apostrophes.
The reason I post this correction is that it's always important to acknowledge the roots, and I believe Clapton uses the original title for his version.

Drifting Blues - Eric Clapton

This is a live acoustic version of the classic blues song "Drifting Blues" (sometimes written "Driftin' Blues"). It's a classic blues standard done in the west coast style. It was originally written and performed by Johnny Moore's group "The Blazers". It was one of the biggest blues hits of the 1940's.
It has been covered by several artists including; Charles Brown, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert King and Clapton of course who recorded the song numerous times.
For a DVD of this concert click here.

Enjoy ; )

Jimi Hendrix - Red House

This is a clip from the classic Woodstock festival of 1969. The clip is of Hendrix's band of Gypsies performing the Hendrix tune "Red House". It's one of the bluesiest tunes of Hendrix's who very often were more rock 'n' roll. It's like a psychedelic blues, mixing the blues with a hint of psychedelia.
The song has become a blues standard, and is respected and covered by many artists. Artists like Gary Moore, Prince and Johnny Winter. But it's also been covered by some of the great blues legends, and Hendrix's own idols like; Buddy Guy, Albert King and John Lee Hooker.
Truly a great tune adapted by the blues legends. Hendrix was a legend, a true master of his instrument, an innovator and just plain out of this world.

So enjoy Hendrix playin' Red House!!

The Doors & John Lee Hooker - Roadhouse Blues

The video is a fan made video. The song is from the 2000 album "Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors". It is an album recorded by the surviving members of The Doors, and features many guest performances. Like this one featuring blues legend John Lee Hooker. The track was put together in the studio using a posthumous vocal by Morrison. It is a great song, and it showcases that "The Doors" also had the blues, and getting a guy like Hooker is a stamp of approval in my book.

Enjoy ; )