John Lee Hooker’s debut on Riverside Records is perhaps the truest to his Mississippi roots. Unaccompanied and playing acoustically instead of his usual amplified guitar, he turned in a wonderfully varied set of deep Delta blues, moans, boogies, one field holler, and even a bit of hokum. Some songs are autobiographical, others reworkings of blues standards–all stamped with the hauntingly personal Hooker touch. The audio for this 60th anniversary vinyl release is sourced from the original stereo tapes that were mastered on all analog by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. It’s pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Memphis Record Pressing.