Season 2 Episode 5- John Lee Hooker And The Blues On Hastings Street

The Detroit History Podcast

Bluesman John Lee Hooker's recording career spanned more than 40 years -- from his hit record, Boogie Chillen', which was recorded in a Detroit basement in 1948, to his Grammy Award-winning LP The Healer. Hooker is a total product of Detroit's Black Bottom, the city's African-American neighborhood. We track his career, with help from John Lee Hooker's son, John Lee Hooker Jr.; to Marsha Music, whose father, Joe von Battle, owned Joe's Record Shop, one of Hooker's hangouts. Detroit musician R.J. Spangler places Hooker in this country's blues galaxy. Stick around after the credits for a preview of John Lee Hooker Jr.'s new song: Testify.