Hound Dog Taylor

by Bill DahlAlligator Records, Chicagos leading contemporary blues label, might never have been launched at all if not for the crashing, slashing slide guitar antics of Hound Dog Taylor. Bruce Iglauer, then an employee of Delmark Records, couldnt convince his boss, Bob Koester, of Taylors potential, so Iglauer took matters into his own hands. In 1971, Alligator was born for the express purpose of releasing Hound Dogs debut album. We all know what transpired after that.Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, Mississippi-native Taylor took up the guitar when he was 20 years old. He made a few appearances on Sonny Boy Williamsons fabled KFFA King Biscuit Time radio broadcasts out of Helena, AR, before coming to Chicago in 1942. It was another 15 years before Taylor made blues his full-time vocation, though. Taylor was a favorite on the South and West sides during the late 50s and early 60s. Its generally accepted that Freddy King copped a good portion of his classic Hide Away from an instrumental he heard Taylor cranking out on the bandstand.Taylors pre-Alligator credits were light — only a 1960 single for Cadillac Babys Bea & Baby imprint (Baby Is Coming Home/Take Five), a 1962 45 for Carl Joness Firma Records (Christine/Alley Music), and a 1967 effort for Checker (Watch Out/Down Home) predated his output for Iglauer.Taylors relentlessly raucous band, the HouseRockers, consisted of only two men, though their combined racket sounded like quite a few more. Second guitarist Brewer Phillips, who often supplied buzzing pseudo-bass lines on his guitar, had developed such an empathy with Taylor that their guitars intertwined with ESP-like force, while drummer Ted Harvey kept everything moving along at a brisk pace.Their eponymous 1971 debut LP contained the typically rowdy Give Me Back My Wig, while Taylors first Alligator encore in 1973, Natural Boogie, boasted the hypnotic Sadie and a stomping Roll Your Moneymaker. Beware of the Dog, a live set, vividly captured the good-time vibe that the perpetually beaming guitarist emanated, but Taylor didnt live to see its release — he died of cancer shortly before it hit the shelves.Hound Dog Taylor was the obvious inspiration for Alligators Genuine Houserocking Music motto, a credo Iglauers firm still tries to live up to today. He wasnt the most accomplished of slide guitarists, but Hound Dog Taylor could definitely rock any house he played at.