John Lee Hooker - The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker

Happy Birthday Mr. Hooker! There is some debate as to whether he would have been 98 or 95 (his birth year is listed as 1917, but he acknowledged he had lied about his age to join the Army and other events of his early life line up better with 1920).

This album was recorded in 1959 as a part of a series of Blues albums recorded for Riverside Records during a phase where Orrin Keepnews was doing his best to expand the label beyond Jazz  with this series and another featuring legends of New Orleans 'trad jazz'. Hooker was under contract to Vee Jay records at the time and was 'rented' to Riverside for sessions that yielded 3 LP's.