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The double-album Hooker ’N Heat, which was released on January 15, 1971, is a fascinating meeting of mentor and protégés. Canned Heat had long admired John Lee Hooker and were delighted to find out that the revered blues guitarist-singer also enjoyed the band’s music. “I sure like the way you boys boogie,” Hooker told harmonica player Alan Wilson at a chance meeting in Los Angeles. Canned Heat floated the idea of recording together and, in April 1970, Hooker’s record company gave him permission to do just that. Just one month later they met up at Liberty Records in LA to record the album that was titled Hooker ’N Heat. In deference to Hooker’s genius, the boogie-rock band, who had a global hit with “On The Road Again” in 1967, gave the first half of the album to him alone, and Hooker laid down compelling versions of five of his own compositions: “Messin’ With The Hook,” “The Feelin’ Is Gone,” “Send Me Your Pillow,” “Sittin’ Here Thinkin’,” and “Meet Me In The Bottom.” For the second half of Hooker ’N Heat, Wilson joined in on piano, harmonica, and guitar. “Blind Owl” Wilson, as he was known, died four months after the record was cut – at just 27 – from a barbiturates overdose. He had suffered from depression and his death robbed the world of “the most gifted harmonica player I’ve ever heard,” as Hooker described him. Hooker ’N Heat captures his wonderful talent for music, including his piano playing on “Bottle Up And Go” (written by the Delta blues musician Tommy McClennan) and “The World Today,” and his guitar work on “I Got My Eyes On You.” After the album came out, Hooker and Canned Heat – who hired guitarist-vocalist Joel Scott Hill to replace Wilson – played some live shows together, including one at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The memorable studio collaboration Hooker ’N Heat captured a natural fusion of empathetic musicians – and Hooker, who was 53 at the time, reveling in the occasion.