With a little help from his friends

In 1989 John Lee Hooker was 77 years old – or, according to other sources, 72 - and had been singing since the 30's. He had had his first hit in 1948 thanks to Boogie Chillen'; his music had influenced the Animals, the Stones and the Doors; and he had even appeared in The Blues Brothers in 1980; but, even so, his name was far from the popularity of other bluesmen like B.B. King or Buddy Guy. Everything however changed that year when his record company decided to reunite him with several figures close to the blues but with a ‘rock public’ following: names like Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos and Canned Heat.     

      

Of these, his most important collaboration comes on the title track, The Healer, with guitarist Carlos Santana and his band. It is the best song on the album and proof that Hooker's voice sounds good with almost anything you put it on. It is an original song composed by Santana, Hooker, the album's producer, Roy Rogers, and Chester D. Thompson, although it sounds 100% Santana, thanks to the Latin touches and, above all, the latter's excellent guitar work, with an incredible tone, answering perfectly to Hooker's every vocal inflection. The Mexican has even said that he based it on When The Music's Over by the Doors to compose it, a song that, in turn, had been inspired by Hooker himself. Possibly he uses one of his trusty PRS guitars in the studio version but, in the video, he appears with a Les Paul Spotlight Special.     

This song is followed by I'm In The Mood, one of the great classics of his career. The cover that appears here may not be the definitive one but it is a remarkable track. Hooker starts setting the tone with his boogie and that voice that sounds like that of a shaman with decades of wisdom, and problems, behind him, then Bonnie Raitt's voice enters, playful and seductive, until the redhead contributes a slide solo on one of her classic Stratocasters.     

      

Immediately after comes the pairing with Robert Cray - two totally different generations of bluesman, but clearly symbiotic – that produces a pounding riff, played by two guitars that are complemented by John Lee's voice, until Cray delivers a tasty solo, again with the Strat tone behind. Cuttin' Out is pure Canned Heat, with Hooker contributing his boogie and his imposing voice, a collaboration that exudes chemistry (something that is understandable on the other hand if we take into account that they already recorded an album together in 1971 called Hooker 'n Heat). For their part, Los Lobos bring their Chicano flavor, accordion included, and an encyclopedic knowledge of the blues. David Hidalgo proves, once again, that he is one of the most underrated guitarists in recent decades.     

George Thorogood produces a great slide solo on Sally Mae, the closest thing to Hooker's spartan style, with little more than his guitar, his voice and Thorogood's accompaniment. That's Allright is slow-cooked blues, with Charlie Musselwhite shining on harmonica and Hooker proving that the blues was made to be sung by a voice like his.     

      

The last three songs are ‘guestless’, and meet with varying fates. Rockin' Chair is the best of the bunch and one of the best on the album, -with only Hooker with his trusty National Steel resonator -, while My Dream is a 'Springstinian' ballad that doesn't fit his style very well. After this small blip the album closes with Hooker singing his sorrows with a 12-string guitar on the slow, but no less moving, No Substitute.     

This may not be an absolutely essential Hooker work, for that you'd have to get some compilation that covered his best songs from the 40s, with gems like Boogie Chillen' or Crawlin' King Snake, to the 60s, with wonders like Boom, Boom, Dimple or One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, but it is a very satisfying record from his late period and, much more importantly, the album was successful and allowed him, after a 50-year career, to live comfortably and carefree for his remaining years. For that alone, and Santana's solo, the release of this album should be celebrated.