Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 – December 17, 1975) was a

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

guitarist and singer.

Life and career

Taylor was born in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

, in 1915, though some sources say 1917. He first played the piano and began playing the guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942. Taylor had a condition known as

polydactylism Polydactyly or polydactylism (), also known as hyperdactyly, is an anomaly in humans and animals resulting in supernumerary body part, supernumerary fingers and/or toes. Polydactyly is the opposite of oligodactyly (fewer fingers or toes). Sign ...

, which resulted in him having six fingers on both hands. As is usual with the condition, the extra digits were rudimentary nubbins and could not be moved. One night, while drunk, he cut off the extra digit on his right hand using a straight razor. He became a full-time musician around 1957, but remained unknown outside the Chicago area, where he played small clubs in black neighborhoods and at the open-air

Maxwell Street Maxwell Street is an east-west street in Chicago, Illinois that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West.Hayner, Don and Tom McNamee (1988). '' ...

Market. He was known for his electrified

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

playing (roughly styled after that of

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

), his cheap Japanese

Teisco Teisco was a Japanese musical instrument manufacturing company from 1948 until 1967, when the brand "Teisco" was acquired by Kawai (河合楽器製作所; Kawai Gakki Seisakusho). The company produced guitars as well as synthesizers, microphones ...

guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. In 1967, Taylor toured Europe with the

American Folk Blues Festival The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day such as Muddy Waters, Howl ...

, performing with

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

and

Koko Taylor Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known for ...

Bruce Iglauer Bruce Iglauer (born July 10, 1947) is an American businessman and record producer who founded Alligator Records as an independent record label featuring blues music. Early life and career Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States ...

(then a shipping clerk for

Delmark Records Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a record ...

) tried to persuade his employer to sign Taylor to a recording contract after he heard Taylor with his band, the HouseRockers ( Brewer Phillips on second guitar and Ted Harvey on drums), in 1970 at Florence's Lounge on Chicago's South Side. In 1971, having no success in getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer used a $2,500 inheritance to form

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the ''Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using hi ...

, which recorded Taylor's debut album, ''

Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers ''Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers'' is the 1971 debut album of Hound Dog Taylor. Originally issued on LP as the first release on the Alligator label, it has subsequently been reissued on CD. Recording As well as being Taylor's debut alb ...

''. The album was recorded in just two nights. It was the first release for Alligator, which eventually became a major blues label. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...

, and

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B genres. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog", in 1952, which becam ...

. The band became especially popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired the young

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...

. The album ''Live at Joe's Place'' documents a performance in Boston in 1972. The second release by Taylor and his band, ''Natural Boogie'', recorded in late 1973, received greater acclaim and led to more touring. In 1975, they toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and the duo of

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and oc ...

and

Brownie McGhee Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk music and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Life and career McGhee was ...

. Taylor's third album for Alligator, ''Beware of the Dog'', was recorded live in 1974 but was not released until after his death. Alligator also released, posthumously, ''Genuine Houserocking Music'' and ''Release the Hound''. Bootleg live recordings also circulated after Taylor's death. Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975. He was buried at Restvale Cemetery, in

Alsip, Illinois Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank ...

Awards and recognition

In 1984, Taylor was posthumously inducted into the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum located at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1 ...

. His induction statement included: "He was not a virtuoso, nor a master technician. But the few things he could play, he could play like no one else could. He told writer Bob Neff the way he would like to be remembered: 'He couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good.'" In 1997, Alligator Records released ''Hound Dog Taylor: A Tribute'', a 14-track tribute album in which Taylor's songs are covered by

Luther Allison Luther Allison (August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, although some accounts suggest his actual place of birth was Mayflower, Arkansas. Allison was intereste ...

, Elvin Bishop,

Cub Koda Michael "Cub" Koda (born October 1, 1948 – July 1, 2000) was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, songwriter, disc jockey, music critic, and record compiler. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine considered him best known for writing the song " ...

(with Taylor's band, the HouseRockers),

Gov't Mule Gov't Mule (pronounced "Government Mule") is an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 as a side project of the Allman Brothers Band by guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody. Fans often refer to Gov't Mule simply as ''Mule''. ...

Sonny Landreth Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Bre ...

, and others. A "Deluxe Edition" series compilation album followed in 1999. A live recording by

of Elmore James' " The Sky Is Crying" is dedicated to "the memory of the late great Hound Dog Taylor". It is included on his album ''Live'' (1986); Thorogood also recorded Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig" for his album '' The Hard Stuff'' (2006).

Discography

*''

'', 1971 (Alligator Records) *'' Natural Boogie'', 1974 (Alligator Records) *''Beware of the Dog!'', 1976 (Alligator Records) *''Live at Florences'', 1981 (JSP Records) *''Genuine Houserocking Music'', 1982 (Alligator Records) *''Hound Dog Taylor'', deluxe edition, 1999 (Alligator Records) *''Release the Hound'', 2004 (Alligator Records)

References

External links

Alligator Records biography of TaylorPhoto of Taylor's left hand, with six fingers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Hound Dog 1915 births 1975 deaths Country blues singers Chicago blues musicians African-American guitarists American blues guitarists American male guitarists Blues musicians from Mississippi Slide guitarists Deaths from lung cancer American blues singers American blues pianists American male pianists 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Illinois Guitarists from Mississippi Alligator Records artists 20th-century American pianists People with polydactyly African-American pianists 20th-century African-American male singers