“Where Were You?” – John Lee Hooker at The Great Midwestern Music Hall, in Louisville, Kentucky [July 5th, 1977]

Another set of images that have been awaiting my attention these past few years….. This was one of the first real Blues performance for me to attend, within a year of the purchase of my trusty Canon AE-1, and the Komuranon telephoto zoom lens that would serve me well, as time went along. I had known of Mr. Hooker‘s work for a time, mainly due to the “Hooker ‘n’ Heat” album (with Canned Heat backing him), but really became more aware of his work, while attending university, where I had been part of the radio station staff during my freshman year. Previewing new releases was a major part of prepping playlists for my show, and it just so happened that the independent label, Tomato Records, released several very good LPs, about the time I was at the station/university, including the artists John Lee Hooker, Townes Van Zandt, and Doc Watson. All of those releases piqued my interest in seeing each of those performers, and as fortune would have it, all three wound up playing at The Great Midwestern Music Hall, in the year of 1977 – and gave me the opportunity to attempt to capture images of each of them, at these appearances. Great practice, in a small venue, with the challenge of adapting to low lighting, and the greater task of securing a good vantage point to shoot photographs from. I would be forced to use a flash, each time, and the results would vary, depending on that vantage point, mentioned earlier. The shots from the Townes Van Zandt show were fair – at best – while those of Doc and Merle Watson, were an improvement: Where Were You? Townes Van Zandt at The Great Midwestern Music Hall in Louisville, Kentucky [May 3,1978]; and Where Were You? Doc & Merle Watson at The Great Midwestern Music Hall, Louisville KY [August 4,1977]. The audience, for each of the aforementioned shows, was slightly different, with those in attendance for this appearance, a lot more vocal and enthusiastic in their reception of Mr. Hooker, after having had a bit of time to enjoy their drinks while absorbing the opening act’s set, by local outfit Red Beans & Rice, followed by Hooker‘s backing band, The Coast to Coast Blues Band, playing a short opening set, which really got the crowd “in the mood”. And, the fact that this took place during the July 4th holiday, probably lent a bit more energy to the evening’s proceedings. Unfortunately, I was only able to identify two members of his backing band from my usual online sleuthing: the drummer, Larry Martin, I am pretty certain of; and the lead guitarist, John Garcia; while the bassist and keyboard player remain unidentified, at this point in time.

The Coast to Coast Blues Band, warming up the crowd, before the entrance of John Lee Hooker.

John Garcia, who would back Mr. Hooker, and many others during his career.

Any help identifying the remaining members of The Coast to Coast Blues Band, pictured above, would be appreciated, so I can correctly place their names in this post.

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Links for further reading:

John Lee Hooker Wikipedia entry:

John Garcia web page:

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NOTE: Its been a while, and a lot has changed over the past few years, but hoping to get back to sharing more of my archives of images, in the coming weeks, months, years. Leave comments or questions below, and thanks for dropping by and checking the photographs and memories I have chosen to share.

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