That's My Story

Though Riverside was primarily interested in marketing John Lee Hooker as a folk singer, the acoustic-oriented That’s My Story gets its juice from bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes, two jazz world players borrowed for the occasion from Nat Adderley’s band. Recorded in New York on February 9, 1960, this session shows Jones and Hayes providing Hooker with a rare understated swing, especially on “I Want to Talk About You,” “No More Doggin’,” and “I Need Some Money,” all of which depart from the naked aggression of Hooker’s Detroit and Chicago sides, yet tap into the same fathomless well of feeling. The essence of Hooker’s art was his ability to say a lot by doing very little, a lesson well understood by Hayes and Jones. They provide little more than finger taps on “Gonna Use My Rod,” yet the song describes an overwhelming dread better than stack of Marshall amplifiers ever could. The action on Hooker’s albums always occurs above the surface in an extroverted manner, or just below in an introverted manner. In That’s My Story all the drama seems to coalesce deep within the simple lines of these songs.