I was deeply sadden when I heard about the recent death of John Lee Hooker. I have been listening to his music since I was a teenager. I was born in 1948 the same year he first recorded his first record "Boogie Chillen", it went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1949. He had that unusal sound that you rarely ever hear, you could feel the hurt and pain in his voice when he sang. I went to my collection of John Lee Hooker cds and lps and for the first time I counted how many I had, a total of 104. Couldn't believe it. I will miss him dearly. I am reminded of a quote in Henry Miller's book "The Time of the Assassins" a study on the French poet Rimbaud when he says "He is like a nova which appears suddenly grows to terrifying brilliance, then plunges to earth" In John Lee's case he burned for 80 plus years.
