.

Ben Harper and player Charlie Musselwhite Took John Lee Hooker's Advise

01/31/2013
.
(Radio.com) If you were lucky enough to get advice from the late blues legend John Lee Hooker, you should probably follow that advice � even if it takes more than a decade. That's the lesson Ben Harper and harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite recently learned.

The duo just released their first joint effort, Get Up!, but they've been planning on working together since they did a session with Hooker for his 1997 album The Best Of Friends (recording a new version of "Burnin' Hell"). But once Hooker saw Harper and Musselwhite working together in the studio, he gave them some advice.

"John Lee said, 'You and Charlie have something special,'" Harper told Radio.com. "He chooses his words carefully, it stuck with me for sure."

The pair have intended to do an album for a long time (and Musselwhite cameoed on Harper's 2006 album Both Sides Of The Gun). Conflicting schedules delayed the project until finally, last year, they got together and cut Get Up! Musselwhite has played with many of the greats, from Hooker to Tom Waits (he plays on the latter's GRAMMY-nominated Bad As Me) but says he loved playing with Harper and his backing band.

"They're really great, I like their attitude," Musselwhite said of Harper and his band. "I like the way they play. Like, some guys know all this technique and they just play stupid. But these guys play with such taste, it's wonderful to play with them!" more on this story

Radio.com is an official news provider for antiMusic.com.
Copyright Radio.com/CBS Local - Excerpted here with permission.

Ben Harper CDs, DVDs and MP3s

Ben Harper T-shirts and Posters

Share this article

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it Share on Reddit email this article


...end



advertisement