Welcome to "Muddy's Picks" on Graveyard Blues! Each month, Jerry's dog Muddy... will pick an album that he highly recommends. The record could be a classic, brand new or something in-between! We'll take a 'deep-dive' into the record, and play a track from it, every week during that month!

Suggest an album for Muddy to consider? Send an email to: muddyspick@graveyardblues.com

Muddy's Pick for october (2022) is: canned heat & john lee hooker - "hooker-n-heat" released: 1/15/1971

Hooker 'n Heat is a double album released by John Lee Hooker and the band Canned Heat in early 1971. It was the last studio album to feature harmonica player, guitarist and songwriter Alan Wilson, who died in September 1970 from a drug overdose. The photo on the album cover was taken after Wilson's death, but his picture can be seen in a frame on the wall behind John Lee Hooker.

Canned Heat had long admired John Lee Hooker and were delighted to find out that the revered blues guitarist-singer also enjoyed the band’s music. “I sure like the way you boys boogie,” Hooker told harmonica player Alan Wilson at a chance meeting in Los Angeles. Canned Heat floated the idea of recording together and, in April 1970, Hooker’s record company gave him permission to do just that. Just one month later they met up at Liberty Records in LA to record the album that was titled Hooker ’N Heat.

Hooker arrived for the recording session wearing a plaid cap, leather jacket, black satin shirt, and some old dress slacks. He was carrying his favorite old Epiphone guitar. Producers Skip Taylor and Robert Hite were keen to capture the authentic Hooker blues sound. They tried out eight amplifiers before finding an old Silvertone amp that had that real “Hooker sound.” The engineers built a plywood platform for Hooker to sit on while he played, with one microphone on the amp, one to capture his vocals and a third to pick up his distinctive stomping. Nearby was a large bottle of Chivas Regal Scotch and a pitcher of water to keep him well refreshed.

After the album came out, Hooker and Canned Heat – who hired guitarist-vocalist Joel Scott Hill to replace Wilson – played some live shows together, including one at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The memorable studio collaboration Hooker ’N Heat captured a natural fusion of empathetic musicians – and Hooker, who was 53 at the time, reveling in the occasion.