John Lee Hooker was born near Clarksdale, Mississippi, on August 22, 1917 to a family of Southern sharecroppers. “He was one of 11 children in a family of sharecroppers on a cotton plantation” (Jones, Malcolm; John Lee Hooker). Since his father was a minister, Hooker had learned gospel songs at his church. John Lee Hooker's first musical influence came from his stepfather, Will Moore, when he learned the blues and rhythm from him that he called "Country Boogie" (Pareles, Jon; New York Times). “Bluesmen Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton were all visitors to the Moore family” (Pareles, Jon; New York Times). Hooker also learned from other Mississippi musicians and from phonograph records during his free time. “Hooker began playing on strings made from strips of inner tube nailed to a barn” (Jones, Malcolm; John Lee Hooker), then later, as a young man, Hooker switched to guitar to further his interest in the blues. .In the early 1940s Hooker had moved north to Detroit, through Memphis and Cincinnati, after running away to be...