John Lee Hooker
"It Serve You Right to Suffer"

I was first hipped to this one during a teenaged Car City Records recommend-fest from future bandmate Tom Potter. I bought it on CD. I'm sure that disc is still buried in the depths of the basement somewhere. I found a nice slick Impulse LP pressing a few years back that has me re-appreciating. In light of Dirtbombs New Year's Eve afterglow it reminds me of quite a memorable Blind Pig soundcheck a decade ago.

We were just goofing, killing time, fell backwards into a standard blues that slowly crescendoed into VOLUME with nothing but head nods for direction between us, and Troy steps up to the mic and drops the lyrics to this title track. BURNED INTO MY MIND. So good, so stark. Who knows when we'll play again, reminiscing with the guys over the past week was just as fun as playing the show.

A full LP of blues can be hard for me to stomach, but somehow, this one endures. It feels unburdened with gimmickry or bombast. It's deceivingly understated...and almost spooky as a result. "Shake It, Baby" is stone cold, the Screws cover definitely worth peeping and I can often be found intoning "And one more!" to myself. "Bottle Up and Go" I'd first heard via a Billy Childish cover but this original brims with a tenuous swagger. Smooth. Dare I say, this is probably my favorite outright blues LP. Take that, Jon Spencer.

I don't know if there's something to be said that this is a blues record on a predominantly jazz label. I don't know the impetus or reasoning behind this record and am wholly unconcerned with digging down to find it. And the fact that the title is "Serve" and not "Serves" is the icing on the cake. Long live the Detroit Lion in this 100th anniversary of his birth.