If you set out to be a musician in America, you are laying claim to a grand heritage with deep roots and endless branches. If, like ZAKIYA HOOKER, you are exploring and revitalizing the many roads of blues, jazz, classic pop and the early days of rock & roll, there’s a near-endless well to draw from and a potential audience of millions waiting to rediscover it. Zakiya is heir to one of the most uniquely American musical traditions – the blues – and to one of its most distinctive and acclaimed innovators, her father John Lee Hooker.
Given the reverence that his name commands, Zakiya Hooker could likely have made a career out of nostalgia, doing her best impression of the haunting, minimalist blues boogie that was his signature sound. Instead, she pays tribute to his name as she establishes her own style while continuing to establish her powerful voice as a writer, singer, and performer in the larger legacy of American music.
Zakiya had written and recorded with her beloved father for years before his passing in 2001, and she has covered his songs enthusiastically on record and on stage. But inevitably, a female voice and perspective plus a lifetime of absorbing other sounds led her in unique directions. Bluesman’s Journey was recorded and produced by Zakiya’s husband, veteran R&B artist Ollan Christopher, in the Douglasville, Georgia facility that he co-founded with Zakiya’s father—Boom Boom Studio. The album literally brings it all back home for an artist who has toured and recorded internationally, from her childhood home of Detroit to South America, Europe and beyond.
Zakiya says of the title track, “I wrote ‘Bluesman’s Journey’ as a tribute to my dad. I thought about him doing what he loved best, The Blues. While writing the song I realized the sacrifices he made to achieve his dream and to take care of his family. Whatever the circumstance, he would get up grab his guitar and amp and head to whatever club in whatever state or country he was booked in. My father was a humble man who had a dream and followed it. The music was entwined in his DNA and like him, it is in mine as well.”
Bluesman’s Journey features all new music and is the first release since Zakiya Hooker’s highly anticipated album Legacy (2023). After coming off a long hiatus with a renewed enthusiasm, Hooker knew she had stories to tell. There have already been countless gigs and a healthy handful of albums from Zakiya Hooker—but even if Bluesman’s Journey is your first taste of her talents, you got here just in time.