The Blues Man With a Big Secret: Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Hound Dog Taylor was a Chicago Blues guitarist who didn't do things conventionally. For a start, his band had two guitars and a drummer but no bass player. He also had a totally surprising secret that I reveal in this video.
Until a 24-year-old Bruce Iglauer signed Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers to his brand new Alligator Records label, Theodore Roosevelt Taylor (known as "Hound Dog" because he liked chasing the ladies) only played regularly in low-rent Chicago lounge bars and other local dives.
Taylor eventually toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddy King, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and began to play festivals in the USA and further afield before his traffic early death aged 59 in 1975.
The Houserockers were Hound Dog Taylor, Brewer Phillips (2nd guitar) and Ted Harvey (drums).
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I was 16 years old when i heard him playing on Maxwell street in Chicago. Absolutely floored me.
Wow! You’re so lucky. He’s one of the few performers I missed I really wished I could have seen live…
Hound dog would play on the North side of Chicago, and to young, "white", college groups. We would bring whiskey or beer and packs of cigarettes for him and he would play way past curfew for us.
We snuck down to the Chicago South side to hear him playing. It was about 9 p.m. We were Caucasian, underage, with gifts of alcohol for HDT.
He waved us in past the ticket taker guy. Then we found out that on the South side of town music started around midnight! Hound Dog told us with a shine in his eye, "ladies, we start later here than on the North side. But we play 'til dawn or the whiskey's gone!" And they did.
Absolutely my favorite Blues performer since I first heard him on the radio program King Biscuit Flower Hour back in late seventies. Pure raw blues at its best!
Totally agree! When a Hound Dog Taylor track comes on when I play iTunes on "random", I can tell from a couple of notes who's playing: a shiver goes down my spine… 😎
Two minutes in and I already know what the big secret is! ❤
Haha! Very perceptive…
And thanks for watching and commenting!
I love Hound Dog Taylor never heard of him till I bought a bunch of albums from a yard sale and the album Natural Boogie was in it and once I head it and that dirty guitar I was in love now I have many of his albums and get whatever I can of him because he is awesome it's too bad he started so late in the game because he would of been bigger than he is.
Yes, Hound Dog Taylor was very special. In a way, I think it's fitting that he's a cult hero rather than a mainstream star. I think he liked it better it that way…
Cheers and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
When I heard his first record (in the mid seventies), it was such a big smack in the face. No one amongst Chicago bluesmen was so raw and down-to-earth! It took me years to figure out what he was exactly doing, and now his piece "Sadie" is included in every gig I play. I never miss to say who wrote it, and hope his family earns some money with his well deserved royalties.
Thank you for sharing your personal connection with his music. It's great to see artists like HDT appreciated and remembered like this.
I wonder if their band name inspired Mike Gibb and the Homewreckers. Mike was a legendary Blues player, and I was introduced to him by another legendary Blues player, Steve Ditzell, who is probably best known as the guitarist for Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Fenton Robinson, and many others. It was Steve who turned me on to Hound Dog Taylor! He also has a new book out, about his life in The Blues. I'm looking forward to reading it. I will come back here and update with the title of the book very soon. Thanks for the video! One doesn't get to see Hound Dog Taylor videos very often these days!
Thanks! I intend to do videos on more obscure acts more often…
I got a hounddog kingston guitar in 1966, and it was from a loan shop
That's a great piece of history! Do you still play it?
@JimDriver I sure try ,my hands have arthritis now, I sold it 30 years ago , and found it in California, I live in pacific northwest, jimi Hendrix land
i first started listening to houndog in the early seventies when i has still a teenager and was hooked on his style, even today i can't stop playing his records; just for the sheer joy and thrill of playing the blues, his style was never lost on me; you are the first video i have seen giving a commentary on him; i have seen him on videos playing with all the really great musicians so he was right up there with the best; i would love to learn more about him; polydactyly never occurred to me but it makes sense because his left hand was so nimble on the fretboard and may possibly have accounted for his unique style; imagine what you can do on a fretboard at that level with an extra pinky; i always surmised that his houndog tag came from his physical build being so thin and lean and lanky like houndog's tail. any way finally thanks to you that is all now a little bit clearer; if you have any interesting links to his life please post them up as i would love to dig deeper into his life and work; by the way do you know when it was that he passed;
Great cimment - thanks! According to www.findagrave.com/memorial/9499/theodore-roosevelt-taylor he died of lung cancert (aged 60) in December 1975.
A while ago I was in Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus in the bues section when I heard what I can only describe as the filthiest slide guitar I'd ever heard being played over their stereo. It was Hound Dog Taylor. Needless to say I bought that album and rushed home, put it on my stereo and played it. Again. And Again. And many more times since.
Glad the staff at Tower Records were so clued in! I had a similar experience when I played my first track by Hound Dog Taylor way back when. I can remember what I was doing and where I was and this was over 30 years ago! Totally mindblowing!@
First time I heard him...I was hooked. Here's another "shocking bit" he shot Brewer..but they made up and buried the hatchet..just a slight misunderstanding apparently .
I knew a drummer that met him
he used to play at a pub/bar called Joe's Place a few miles from where I grew up ...there's some live recordings available put out by an Austrian label called Wolf Records...probably semi legitimate,but well recorded......the band (Ted Harvey and Brewer Phillips) later hooked up with JB Hutto,,,and later, Cub Koda from the American rock band Brownsville Station....interesting fact, George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers were their opening act at Joe's Place
Thank you for some great information about Hound Dog Taylor. This is exactly what I want this UA-cam channel to be about: all of us sharing news and stories about the acts we love. Thanks again and please keep watching!
I grew up listening to hound dog. Glad you found him. Great video.thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting!
First time I heard Hound Dog Taylor, was in the beginning cutscene of a game called Driver 2. Many years later I identified the song I was hearing was known as "Sittin at home alone", when it appeared in another Driver videogame: San Francisco.
Who knew video games could be the gateway to discovering great music? Thanks for commenting!
I first heard Hound Dog on a radio blues show in late 1983. I was already well into slide guitar in open tunings, but his tone and technique was so raw and intense, I hadn't heard something quite like it before. I was hooked, and soon bought one of his later Alligator albums. His condition of having the extra fingers is Polydactyly.
Thank you for sharing your experience of Hound Dog's music. It's great to hear how he inspired you as well. Cheers!
Hound dog was great. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it!
I'm sure HDT would thank you too if he was still around… 🌅
I own the original photo from his first album- the actual print from Peter Amft.
That's amazing! Owning a piece of music history is such a unique privilege. Thanks for watching and for commenting. Cheers!
Yet again your knowledge shines through. Really enjoyed this one. I enjoyed it so much I downloaded the whole Hound Dog Catralogue on Spotify.
Haha, I'm glad my knowledge is shining through! Thanks for the kind words. I hope you enjoy rocking out to the Hound Dog catalogue on Spotify. I know he's on practically every playlist I make…
Elmore James style slide.
Indeed!
I wonder if The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were influenced by him to perform as a two guitarists / one drummer combo?
I think that might well be true!
As are GA 20.@@JimDriver
Gotta love the Hound... got into him after the 'Rum Diaries'... six fingers ?! fuckin 'ell
Thanks for sharing your love of Hound, Dog - he definitely was a unique bluesman!
HiJim, Interesting. When he toured Europe with Little Walter, Coco Tayler etc, his technique was considered limited. J,B. Hutto was great with his own band but Elmore was surely the master. My blues journey started in '63 with Lightnin Hopkins. Still one of the greatest of them all.
I too have a wide range of Blues experience. But there’s a lot of light and shade. For example, can Slim Harpo be compared to Lightnin’ Hopkins? Personally, I don’t think so…
My take is that Hound Dog Taylor showed amazing raw energy, and that wasn’t really taking into account back in the 1960s, when technique was considered everything…
His technique was limited, but very intense and effective.
Great video, best slide Blues player l saw Live was Johnny winter one of the greatest Guitar performances ever Was Ollie harsall when he backed Kevin Ayers a incredible player l remember in a small back room pub in King's Cross l saw pete bank's Yes and Flash played a awesome Jam fusion keep up the great work Jim cheers Steve s.
Thanks, Steve, it’s very much appreciated!
Saw him feb 72 sat juke joint till the whiskey run out..
Thanks for sharing your experience, from 1972! It sounds like an unforgettable gig!
@@JimDriver absolutely...J
If you look in the dictionary for the definition of the word "party", there's just a picture of Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers!
Haha! If there's not, there should be!! Cheers!
Eu amo o BLUE
Yes, I like blue, too… 😀
hey Jim...............check out Guy Verlinde and the Houserockers. Cheers m8
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely check them out. Cheers!
Love HDT!!!😎
Played a wonderful old Kawai...
...did you ever put on The Pirates after they made a come back around 77?
Thanks for commenting! Yes, I put on The Pirates several times, both at The Cricketers and at the 100 Club.
*Polydactyly
A bit of self promotion is ok. You are pasted redundant here.
Hound Dog was hard core. Word is he killed a man in a bar fight.
There is a story about the time he hit it 'big'. Provided with good instruments and amps, he could not play!
Oh Hounddog was a real mutha...6 fingers and all! Cheap Japanese guitars...dude was certainly lively and not real laid back blues...real juke joint music
Totally agree! Cheers!
I gave the thumbs down - BUT not for the footage of Hound Dog Taylor, because he is great.
I though it was shameful that you are sensationalising the fact that Hound Dog had extra digits and describing it as a "secret" that you are unveiling for the first time..
It isn't a "secret". Grow up !
Unveiling secrets about extra digits is such a future season, right? 😀😍
Unveiling "secrets" like Hound Dog's extra digits, next up is the scoop on his favourite guitar picks (in reverse order)! 😀
@@JimDriver - Eh ?
GA 20 band tribute and Lightning Guy...
I'll take your word for it 😀
Beware Of The Dog... no not that dog, but Hound Dog Taylor rippin it on slide guitar.
That dog may not bite, but Hound Dog Taylor's guitar skills definitely do!
Best plus JLH and RL BURNSIDE...