John Lee Hooker Jr., heir to one of the most prestigious names in the history of blues and a leader in ushering this deeply rooted American art form into the new century, has signed with Telarc International. Hooker’s Telarc debut, Cold As Ice, is set for release on June 27, 2006.

Hooker, whose father was an architect of modern American blues in the 1940s and ‘50s with hits like “Boogie Chillen,” “I’m in the Mood” and “Crawlin’ Kingsnake,” takes the best elements of the old school and recasts them for newer, younger, 21st century audiences with a rollicking, irreverent lyrical style and a no-nonsense, party-til-yer-blue live show. This approach has garnered him high accolades in recent years—a Grammy nomination (Traditional Blues Album) and a Handy Award (Best New Artist Debut) for his 2004 release, Blues with a Vengeance.

“We wanted a label with a family feel to it, a place that dealt with artists from a standpoint of honesty and integrity,” says Hooker. “We found all those things in Telarc, and we feel fortunate and blessed to be with them.”

Recording sessions for Cold As Ice are scheduled to begin in mid-January and wrap up in early March. John Lee has assembled an amazing coterie of musicians and singers for this new recording, and has created a wealth of new material that his players agree are the best songs he’s ever written.

“We’re putting so much hard work into this album,” says Hooker, “and we’re very excited about it. Part of the excitement has to do with Telarc. Sometimes you feel like a small player in a very large crowd. But Telarc is like a big brother standing there at my shoulder, so now I’m ready to take on that crowd. I’m very blessed to have some good folks behind me who are looking out for me.”

“We are very proud to have John Lee Hooker Jr. on the Telarc roster,” says Robert Woods, president of Telarc. “More than just the heir to his father’s name, he is a brilliant and compelling artist in his own right, armed with the same combination of passion, insight and wit that have made the blues such an enduring force over the past century. With the musical landscape constantly evolving worldwide, he is every bit the pioneer and pacesetter that his father was before him. We look forward to great things from him and from the new record.”