Craft Recordings Announces Five-Disc John Lee Hooker Box Set

(Image credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

In honor of John Lee Hooker's 100th birthday, Craft Recordings has announced King of the Boogie, a comprehensive, five-disc box set of the late blues legend's greatest hits, plus some rarities, live recordings and numerous previously unreleased cuts.

Two of the discs have themes, with the fourth disc dedicated to live recordings and the fifth disc dedicated to collaborations. The latter includes the version of "Boogie Chillun" Hooker recorded with Eric Clapton, a take on "You Shook Me" with B.B. King and "The Healer," a collaboration with Carlos Santana.

The discs will be housed in a 56-page book,along with an array of photos from throughout Hooker's life, and new liner notes by writer and John Lee Hooker historian Jas Obrecht.

"Even at 100 songs, this set is just a snapshot of John Lee Hooker's incredible and influential career, but one that takes you on the long journey he took from his early days in Detroit, to his time in Chicago recording for Vee-Jay Records and up through his later collaborations with Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt and Santana, among others," said Mason Williams, who curated and produced King of the Boogie.

King of the Boogie is set for a September 29 release via Craft. You can preorder it here. You can also take a look at the tracklist below.

King of the Boogie Tracklist

  • Disc 1
  • 1. "Boogie Chillen'"
  • 2. "Sally May"
  • 3. "Hobo Blues"
  • 4. "Crawlin' King Snake"
  • 5. "Black Man Blues"
  • 6. "Goin' Mad Blues"
  • 7. "Who's Been Jivin' You"
  • 8. "(Miss Sadie Mae) Curl My Baby's Hair"
  • 9. "Hoogie Boogie"
  • 10. "Burnin' Hell"
  • 11. "Weeping Willow Boogie"
  • 12. "Moaning Blues"
  • 13. "Huckle Up Baby"
  • 14. "Goin' On Highway #51
  • 15. "John L's House Rent Boogie"
  • 16. "I'm In The Mood"
  • 17. "Two White Horses"
  • 18. "33 Blues"
  • 19. "Sugar Mama"
  • 20. "Wobbling Baby"
  • 21. "Stuttering Blues"
  • 22. "I'm A Boogie Man"
  • 23. "Down Child"
  • 24. "Odds Against Me (Backbiters And Syndicaters)"
  • 25. "Shake, Holler And Run"

Disc 2
1. "Unfriendly Woman [Aka Stop Now]"
2. "Mambo Chillun"
3. "Time Is Marching"
4. "Dimples"
5. "Little Wheel"
6." I Love You Honey"
7. "Drive Me Away"
8. "Maudie"
9. "When I Lay My Burden Down"
10. "Tupelo Blues"
11. "Good Mornin' Lil' School Girl"
12. "I Rolled And Turned And Cried The Whole Night Long"
13. "No More Doggin'"
14. "Dusty Road"
15. "No Shoes"
16. "My First Wife Left Me"
17. "Crazy About That Walk"
18. "Want Ad Blues"
19. "Will The Circle Be Unbroken"
20. "I'm Going Upstairs"
21. "I Lost My Job"
22. "Don't Turn Me From Your Door"
23. "Grinder Man"
24. "Meat Shakes On Her Bone"

Disc 3
1. "Boom Boom"
2. "Blues Before Sunrise"
3. "She's Mine"
4. "Frisco Blues"
5. "Good Rockin' Mama"
6. "I'm Leaving"
7. "Birmingham Blues"
8. "Don't Look Back"
9. "Big Legs, Tight Skirt"
10. "It Serves Me Right"
11. "Money"
12. "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"
13. "The Motor City Is Burning"
14. "Mean, Mean Woman"
15. "Doin' The Shout"
16. "Homework"
17. "Early One Morning"
18. "Rocking Chair"
19. "Hittin' The Bottle Again"
20. "Deep Blue Sea"
21. "Spellbound"

Disc 4—Live
1. "Hobo Blues"
2. "Maudie"
3. "Shake It Baby"
4. "Boogie Chillun"
5. "Bottle Up And Go"
6. "Crawlin' King Snake"
7. "The Mighty Fire"
8. "You've Got To Walk Yourself"
9. "I'm Bad Like Jesse James"
10. "Boogie Everywhere I Go"
11. "She's Gone"
12. "It Serves Me Right To Suffer"
13. "Boom Boom"
14. "Hi-Heel Sneakers"
15. "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"

Disc 5—Friends
1. "I Got Eyes For You" – With "Little" Eddie Kirkland
2. "Mai Lee" – With The Groundhogs
3. "Peavine" – With Canned Heat
4. "Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive" – With Van Morrison
5. "Five Long Years" – With Joe Cocker
6. "The Healer" – With Carlos Santana
7. "I'm In The Mood" – With Bonnie Raitt
8. "Sally Mae" – With George Thorogood
9. "Mr. Lucky" – With Robert Cray
10. "Up And Down" – With Warren Haynes
11. "Boom Boom" – With Jimmie Vaughan
12. "You Shook Me" – With B.B. King
13. "Don't Look Back" – With Van Morrison
14. "Dimples" – With Los Lobos
15. "Boogie Chillen'" – With Eric Clapton

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Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.