Rock n Roll and Hip Hop

These two forms of music that are listened to today can be traced to two primeval ancestors, both of whom where very similar in their original day.  They were Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker.

Both had remarkable careers starting around the 1950s.  Chuck Berry was from St. Louis and John Lee Hooker was from the south, growing up mostly in Mississippi and then migrating northwards towards Detroit, Michigan.

Chuck Berry invented rock and roll, and John Lee Hooker is largely responsible for the black music of the past 50 years. 

Berry's music had the most influence of any musician ever, and most people today only know Johnny B. Goode as his signature song.  It's a nice song, but he wrote many, many others that are better.  He practically invented rock guitar and was the first guitar hero.  Elvis was known as good looking with a great voice, but Chuck Berry invented the style of guitar that would influence every young boy to pick up a guitar and play. 

John Lee Hooker was also a black man who played guitar.  But his music was different.  It was more soulfoul, more ryhthmic, and more straightforward.  He played the boogie.  The monochord song based on African rhythms and melodies.  It is an ancient sound.  His hit, 'Hobo Blues' is quintessential of his sound and the sound that would influence many, many people both black and white.  Without John Lee Hooker and staying on the one chord, there'd be no funk, disco, hip hop, rap, or anything else black people listen to.  And he himself was a quiet, small mild man from Mississippi who didn't really like partying that much.  He created something.

So when I play guitar, I try to sound like Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker combined.  Rock n Roll and Hip Hop at the same time.  I traced the daughters back to the mother.  The mother is rhythm and blues.  The ancestor of all modern music.

Chuck Berry would play three chord songs with a more upbeat, major tonality, and John Lee Hooker would stay on the one chord and groove.  Both had valid styles, and left a legacy.  So I like both, and I don't have to choose between white and black.  Racial politics in the USA does not affect me none.

My latest album, Trouble On My Way, explores original rhythm and blues compositions, flamenco songs, a Howlin Wolf cover, and an instrumental.  It is pretty good, and shows how I am progressing as a musician.  I am a real rhythm and blues player, I am not just an amateur musician.  So dig it and check me out on Spotify and YouTube.  It doesn't cost you anything, and it helps me. 

The music will never stop.