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I don’t think about time. You’re here when you’re here. I think about today, staying in tune.
~John Lee Hooker

I don’t play a lot of fancy guitar. I don’t want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.
~John Lee Hooker

When they say true blues, pure blues, John Lee Hooker is as close to it as anyone I’ve ever heard.
~B.B. King

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer
Hey mister bartender come here
I want another drink and I want it now
~John Lee Hooker (One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer)

JLH was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. Here from the ceremony he performs “In The Mood” together with Bonnie Raitt:

From Wikipedia:

Born	August 22, 1917 Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States
Died	June 21, 2001 (aged 83) Los Altos, California, United States
Genres	Blues, talking blues, country blues
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1943–2001
Labels	Vee-Jay, Chess, Bluesway, ++
Associated acts	Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King,Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Canned Heat

John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally a unique brand of country blues. He developed a ‘talking blues’ style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was metrically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his blues guitar playing and singing. His best known songs include “Boogie Chillen'” (1948), “I’m in the Mood” (1951) and “Boom Boom” (1962), the first two reaching R&B #1 in the Billboard charts.

From Allmusic (Bill Dahl): He was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century. Read more -> allmusic.com

 

Awards and recognition

• A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991
• Two of his songs, “Boogie Chillen” and “Boom Boom” were named to the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
• “Boogie Chillen” was included as one of the Songs of the Century.

John Lee’s style has always been unique, even among other performers of the real deep blues, few of whom remain with us today. While retaining that foundation he has simultaneously broken new ground musically and commercially. At the age of 80, John Lee Hooker received his third and fourth Grammy Awards, for Best Traditional Blues Recording (Don’t Look Back) and for Best Pop Collaboration for the song “Don’t Look Back” which Hooker recorded with his long time friend Van Morrison. ~johnleehooker.com

 

Grammy Awards:

• Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1990 for I’m in the Mood (with Bonnie Raitt)
• Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1998 for Don’t Look Back
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 1998, “Don’t Look Back” (with Van Morrison)
• Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000

Boom! Boom!:

One Bourbon, one Scotch, one Beer:

Album of the day – John Lee Hooker Plays & Sings The Blues (1961):

Other August-22:

• Craig Finn (born August 22, 1971) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as the front man for The Hold Steady and his former band, Lifter Puller. Described by Pitchfork as “a born storyteller who’s chosen rock as his medium,” Finn’s lyrics are often noted for having a strong literary bent, stringing together recurring characters and storylines throughout.During a five-month break from The Hold Steady, Finn recorded a solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes, which was released in January 2012.–
• Jerome “Jerry” Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and Mike Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include “Hound Dog”, “Jailhouse Rock”, “Don’t”, “Kansas City”, “Stand By Me” (with Ben E. King), and “On Broadway” (with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil).–
• Floyd Tillman (December 8, 1914 – August 22, 2003) was an American country musician who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984.
  

-Egil