Henry Cooper

Henry Cooper was working as a busboy in an Oregon hotel at age 16 when Paul Butterfield’s “The Work Song” reached him over the radio and instantly ignited a deep blues passion. Eager for more, he promptly purchased several LPs, beginning with the Muddy Waters and Butterfield collaboration Fathers & Sons. Around Eugene he began visiting local blues venues, where he encountered the harmonica styles of Curtis Salgado, Mike Mother, and Bill Rhoades. Three years afterward he made his first appearance on record, contributing harmonica to a 45.

In his early twenties Cooper turned to guitar. Short on funds for a standard model, he acquired a lap steel from a pawnbroker and worked to adapt his harmonica phrases to the new instrument while also studying the approaches of Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, and Elmore James. His initial band was Los Explorers, featuring Fred Kellogg, John Barley, and Louie Samora; later he joined the Milkmen. He eventually formed Los Falcons with Barley, Andy Strange, and Boyd Small, the last of whom had previously played in the Milkmen. By 1987 the group was booked to share a New Year’s Eve bill with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Impressed by their handling of his material, Hawkins invited them to join his forthcoming European tour, and Los Falcons made the trip.

Cooper later relocated from Eugene to Portland, where he assembled several ensembles including the Terraplanes and Henry & the Hamhawks. In the nineties he and his wife Anne moved to Seattle, and for the next five years he served as guitarist for Duffy Bishop. During that period he appeared on two Burnside Records releases, Back to the Bone and Bottled Oddities. After striking out on his own, Cooper spent roughly a year preparing his debut solo album, Baby Please, which High Action Records issued in 1998 to strong critical and audience response. Burnside next released Slide Man, fourteen of whose fifteen tracks Cooper wrote.