Talking with John Lee Hooker

It was either 1978 or 1979, I can't remember which year, that I met blues singer John Lee Hooker. He was standing on the concrete porch at the Scorpion in State College, Pennsylvania, which was a tavern with a nice stage and plenty of tables. He was wearing a big hat and he smiled broadly at everyone coming up the steps.

I shook hands with him and told him how much I liked his music and how unique and how stirring I thought his style of folk/blues was to experience and he thanked me for that. His eyes had a far off look to them as we talked, as if they were looking past me and scanning the horizon for someone or something, so I let him go. There were others waiting in line to greet him.

How a man of his stature came to play a small tavern in an alley in a Pennsylvania college town mystified me somewhat. I guess he needed the money. After I'd heard and experienced his incredible performance, I was mystified all over again by the fact that John Lee Hooker had been on a stage where mostly local and regional rock bands had played. His performance was so moving that I had goose flesh for a long time afterward.

And that's how I met John Lee Hooker.

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