''Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers'' is the 1971 debut album of

Hound Dog Taylor Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 – December 17, 1975) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer. Life and career Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1915, though some sources say 1917. He first played the piano and ...

. Originally issued on LP as the first release on the

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

label, it has subsequently been reissued on CD.

Recording

As well as being Taylor's debut album, ''Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers'' was the first recording issued on the

label. The label was founded by

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 ...

for the specific purpose of releasing an album of Taylor's music after he had been unable to persuade

Bob Koester Robert Gregg Koester (October 30, 1932 – May 12, 2021) was an American record producer and businessman who was the founder and owner of Delmark Records, a jazz and blues independent record label. He also operated the Jazz Record Mart in Chi ...

, then his boss at Delmark, to record Taylor. The album, recorded at Sound Studios, Chicago, features only three musicians: Taylor himself on vocals and slide guitar, Brewer Phillips on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and Ted Harvey on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. For solos, the two guitarists alternate between playing lead and accompanying the other guitarist. Further material from the same sessions was released on the posthumous album ''Genuine Houserocking Music''.

Release and promotion

The record sold 9,000 copies in its first year, a large number for a blues record on an independent label, and by 1998 had sold around 100,000 copies. At the time of the recording, Taylor was playing locally in taverns, but the higher profile the album's success gave him enabled him to obtain work further afield, eventually touring as far away as Australia.

Critical reception

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 " S ...

, writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, described it as "wild, raucous, crazy music straight out of the South Side clubs", and called it "one of the greatest

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 ...

albums of all time". ''

The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings'' is an encyclopedia of blues music albums released on CD. Content The book was released on 31 October 2006 and was written by Tony Russell and Chris Smith with contributions by Neil Slaven, Ricky Russel ...

'' describes its sound as "loud, harsh, boxy and exciting".Russell, T. and Smith, C. (2006): ''The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings'', London: Penguin Books, p. 631 Reviewing in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

called the album "electronic gutbucket from the

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 ...

bars, the rawest record I've heard in years. Taylor makes a neoprimitivist showboat like

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

sound like a cross between

Don Nix Don Nix (born September 27, 1941, Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is an American songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul and rock", he is a key figure in ...

and

the Harmonicats Jerry Murad's Harmonicats were an American harmonica-based group. Background The band was founded in 1947. Originally they were named The Harmonica Madcaps and the group consisted of Jerry Murad ( chromatic lead harmonica), Bob Hadamik (bass har ...

, and about time. N.b.: a guitar-playing friend tells me the axe Hound Dog brandishes on the cover is the cheapest you can buy."

Track listing

''Except where otherwise noted, tracks composed by

'' #"She's Gone" - 3:46 #"Walking the Ceiling" - 3:12 #"Held My Baby Last Night" (

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 ...

) - 4:14 #"Taylor's Rock" - 3:50 #"It's Alright" - 3:10 #"Phillips' Theme" - 5:27 #"Wild About You, Baby" (Elmore James) - 3:35 #"I Just Can't Make It" - 3:15 #"It Hurts Me Too" (Elmore James) - 3:47 #"

44 Blues "Forty-Four" or "44 Blues" is a blues standard whose origins have been traced back to early 1920s Louisiana. However, it was Roosevelt Sykes, who provided the lyrics and first recorded it in 1929, that helped popularize the song. "Forty-Four," t ...

" - 2:52 #"Give Me Back My Wig" - 3:31 #"55th Street Boogie" - 2:59

Personnel

;Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers * Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor - vocals, guitar * Brewer Phillips - guitar *Ted Harvey - drums

Production

*Peter Amft -

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

*Stu Black -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

*Bruce Iglauer -

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

*Wesley Race - producer,

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

*Michael Trossman - design

References

{{Authority control Hound Dog Taylor albums 1971 debut albums Albums produced by Bruce Iglauer Alligator Records albums