George Sheck - D.R. Hooker (Pt. 1)

Donald R. Hooker II.

I'm a bass player with 50 years experience. From from 1965 on I played with a variety of music groups. From a beach boy cover band to jazz rock horn bands. In 1969 I landed a big job playing in Edgar Winter's White Trash Band. We recorded an album in the Columbia Records study. We toured extensively with the Best Bands of the day: Allman Brothers, J Geils, The Band, BB King, ELP, Tull, Airplane, Mountain, and many more. After the group disbanded, l spend time in LA and New York with other projects and recording opportunities. In the early 70s my brother drummer Haywood Sheck asked if I could play on a record DR Hooker was making.

Donald R. Hooker II.

We both went to school with DR. He had a very unique, different talent. I think he was decades ahead of his time with Jesus/Christian message songs with a psychedelic distorted guitar solos. I recorded the basic tracks with DR and Haywood and percussionist Ken Lovelett. Then we added the best local musicians to add the background parts. We spent 2 months of long sessions and mixing marathons til the album was done. Everyone donated their time to the project and in a few months the album was printed. We never played again.

In the early 2000s Haywood told me that he was contacted by someone in Europe saying the The Truth was a big hit decades of years after it was recorded. I found a copy in my attic and listed to it for the first time in 30 years. I was amazed how well it sounded. The 4 track recorder was so primitive and the bounce down mixing of the very complex background of brass, strings and choir could have impressed George Martin.

George Sheck.

Dakota Brown