Same Old Blues Again

R.L. Burnside and his dog!

John Lee Ho**er: “I went to Memphis, Cincinnati and then Detroit. I was playin’ when I was 13 or 14; my stepfather taught me how to play. What I’m playing now, he taught me. Nobody else plays this style; I got it all to myself. They tries; they get close, but...a lot of guitarists get good; they’re fantastic, beautiful, really fast, but a lot of them just sound alike. You got to tell your own story, like I tell my own. You hear one of these guys, you heard ’em all. They sound like B.B. King, or like Jimi Hendrix. They ain’t themselves. You got to sound like yourself. You may not be fantastic, or fast; but if you got a different style...nobody sound like John Lee Ho**er” (Q, 1990)

“You don’t need to shout. A lotta young rock groups...they think if you don’t play as loud as you can go, it ain’t happening. It is. People out in the audience, a lotta them like rock but they don’t like it blastin.’ They want it kinda downbeat and you can hear what’s goin’ on. We play the boogie music, but we keep it down” (NME, 1976)
Photo by Ken Griffiths

Howlin’ Wolf working the stage!

RIP John Lee Ho**er

'97 Interview : I never say I'm better than anybody, you know. That's a word I wouldn't use-I'm "better" than you or he's "better" than me. Different styles. You just play. I never say I'm better than Eddie (Kirkland), and Eddie never say he's better than me. I just got a bigger break than he got. He never did get the break he should. He still ain't got it. Muddy said you can never be the best musician-you can only be a good one.