The last living link to the first generation of Delta bluesmen, Hooker has vaulted to international fame and fortune in the past few years with a little help from friends like Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana. His fiercely primitive vocals and guitar playing, best embodied in his recordings of the '40s, '50s, and '60s, have had the power to raise the hair on the back of my neck since the first time I heard "Crawlin' King Snake" sometime in the late '50s. A mutual friend introduced us shortly after John Lee moved from Detroit to California in 1970. This photo was shot in his sparsely furnished Oakland apartment.