Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor liked to do it raucous. He called his band the Houserockers for a reason.Taylor died in 1975, soon after emerging as a recording artist for Alligator Records, a startup Chicago blues label.
Alligator is still going strong... and it is keeping Hound Dog’s music alive. In 2004 the label put out “Release the Hound,” an album of rarities, leftovers and live tracks.
Click here to hear “Gonna Send You Back to Georgia” on my Vox blog. To download the FREE MP3, follow this link to Download.com.
Undercover:
ReplyDeleteIn the late 60's and early 70,s, Every summer, I would leave my home in Atlanta and live with my sickly my aunt on South side of Chicago. Almost every weekend, I went to what blacks called "Jewtown," which was Maxwell Street. People went there to shop and listen to the music, mainly blues.
The Hound," as he was called, was there every time I went. Every one-- whites, blacks, musicians, out-of-town visitors-- would come by to say hello; and I remember him saying " How you, honey? " or "How you, baby?"
He didn't just play loudly. He played passionately. He played with energy, with a jumping beat and with a smile that made me and everyone else smile and jump around.
At some point, he would play an Elmore James ballad like "The sky is crying," "It hurts me too," or "I held my baby;" and it seemed that everyone would stop shopping and just listen. Some would come back to watch him sing with such passion and solo with such a piercing intensity that it made people nod their heads and say when the song was over, "That's the blues."
I would keep staring at his amp, thinking that soon it would start smoking, catch fire, and blow up. That's how hot his playing was to me.
^ Thanks for sharing that oral history, MacDaddy. That is precious cultural information.
ReplyDeleteDouble and Triple Thx. After I gave myself over to the Blues in 1988, Hound Dog's version of "Talk to Me Baby" became my fave bootie call song. Can't name the tune, but the rousing instrumental (I believe it's on his live lp on alligator) with him and Mr. Brewer....just tears me up.
ReplyDeleteQuadruple Thx.