15 Minutes of HDT- Hound Dog Taylor

Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.
Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942.

He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand.

After hearing 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, Bruce Iglauer - at the time a shipping clerk for Delmark Records - tried to get him signed by his employer. Having no success getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer formed a small record label with a $2500 inheritance and recorded Taylor's debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, on his fledgling Alligator Records in 1971. It was the first release on Alligator, now a major blues label. It was recorded in a studio in just two nights. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton. The band became particularly popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired a young protege named George Thorogood. A live album Live At Joe's Place documented a Boston appearance from 1972.

Their second release, Natural Boogie, was recorded in late 1973, and led to greater acclaim and touring. In 1975, Taylor and his band toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His third Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but was only released after his death. More posthumous releases occurred as well, including Genuine Houserocking Music and Release the Hound, on the Alligator label as well as some bootleg live recordings.

Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975, and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Little Walter's Jump - Little Walter

Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. Little Walter was inducted to the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 making him the first and only artist ever to be inducted specifically for his work as a harmonica player.
Jacobs was born in Marksville, Louisiana, United States, and raised in Alexandria, Louisiana, where he first learned to play the harmonica. After quitting school by the age of 12, Jacobs left rural Louisiana and travelled around working odd jobs and busking on the streets of New Orleans, Memphis, Helena, Arkansas and St. Louis. He honed his musical skills on harmonica and guitar with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Sunnyland Slim, Honeyboy Edwards and others.

Arriving in Chicago in 1945, he occasionally found work as a guitarist but garnered more attention for his already highly developed harmonica work. According to fellow Chicago bluesman Floyd Jones, Little Walter's first recording was an unreleased demo recorded soon after he arrived in Chicago on which Walter played guitar backing Jones. Jacobs reportedly grew frustrated with having his harmonica drowned out by electric guitarists, and adopted a simple, but previously little-used method: He cupped a small microphone in his hands along with his harmonica, and plugged the microphone into a public address or guitar amplifier. He could thus compete with any guitarist's volume. Unlike other contemporary blues harp players, such as Sonny Boy Williamson I and Snooky Pryor, who had also begun using the then-new technology around the same time solely for added volume, Little Walter purposely pushed his amplifiers beyond their intended technical limitations, using the amplification to explore and develop radical new timbres and sonic effects previously unheard from a harmonica, or any other instrument. Madison Deniro wrote a small biographical piece on Little Walter stating that "He was the first musician of any kind to purposely use electronic distortion.
A few months after returning from his second European tour, he was involved in a fight while taking a break from a performance at a nightclub on the South Side of Chicago. The relatively minor injuries sustained in this altercation aggravated and compounded damage he had suffered in previous violent encounters, and he died in his sleep at the apartment of a girlfriend at 209 E. 54th St. in Chicago early the following morning. The official cause of death indicated on his death certificate was "coronary thrombosis" (a blood clot in the heart); evidence of external injuries was so insignificant that police reported that his death was of "unknown or natural causes", and there were no external injuries noted on the death certificate
Like my Facebook Page, Post your video on my Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! Share your favorite posting and get more exposure for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Hound Dog Taylor

Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.
Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942.

He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand.

After hearing 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, Bruce Iglauer - at the time a shipping clerk for Delmark Records - tried to get him signed by his employer. Having no success getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer formed a small record label with a $2500 inheritance and recorded Taylor's debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, on his fledgling Alligator Records in 1971. It was the first release on Alligator records, now a major blues label. It was recorded in a studio in just two nights. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton.[citation needed] The band became particularly popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired a young protege named George Thorogood. A live album Live At Joe's Place documents a Boston appearance from 1972.

Their second release, Natural Boogie, was recorded in late 1973, and led to greater acclaim and touring. In 1975, Taylor and his band toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His third Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but was only released after his death. More posthumous releases occurred as well, including Genuine Houserocking Music and Release the Hound, on the Alligator label as well as some bootleg live recordings.

Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975, and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.
Write on our Facebook Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! -  Here

Tech Talk - Signature Sound - Kawai/Teisco

This is a very broad subject and hopefully someone along with me will enjoy the discussion but why so many guitars. Why so many amps. What makes the difference. What kind of guitar says the blues.



This is a very difficult subject. My favorite blues players weren't plugged in. They played what ever they could get their hands on. I'm going to explore the different sounds and tones of guitars and why a player may want to play one guitar over another. This list certainly won't be all inclusive, but it will touch on the different variations of guitars used and how much of the sound is the guitar, the player and possibly the amp or processing equipment.



Hound Dog was an original and had a great earthy sound. He played numerous guitars but typically always inexpensive single coil Japanese guitars made of mystery wood and they always had cool tones. I have first a video of Hound playing a great tune and then a video of how these less expensive Japanese import guitars sound played in a controlled environment sound. Many of the great technical tone heads such as Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Jack White and Jimbo Mathus have taken to playing older cheap guitars to get that vintage blues tone. I'll explore some of the specific guitars these guys use as well as the better known Gibson, Fenders and customs as a part of this journey if you all like it.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

I Held My Baby - Hound Dog Taylor

Another rare clip of Houndog!

Enjoy!!

Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor[1] (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) was an American blues guitarist and singer.Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942.

He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand.


After hearing 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, Bruce Iglauer - at the time a shipping clerk for Delmark Records - tried to get him signed by his employer.
Having no success getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer formed a small record label with a $2500 inheritance and recorded Taylor's debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, on his fledgling Alligator Records in 1971.
It was the first release on Alligator records, now a major blues label. It was recorded in a studio in just two nights. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton.[citation needed] The band became particularly popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired a young protege named George Thorogood. A live album Live At Joe's Place documents a Boston appearance from 1972.

Their second release, Natural Boogie, was recorded in late 1973, and led to greater acclaim and touring. In 1975, Taylor and his band toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His third Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but was only released after his death. More posthumous releases occurred as well, including Genuine Houserocking Music and Release the Hound, on the Alligator label as well as some bootleg live recordings.

Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975, and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE


Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.

Hideaway - Freddie King

"Hide Away" or "Hideaway" is a blues guitar instrumental that has become "a standard for countless blues and rock musicians performing today". First recorded in 1960 by Freddie King, the song became an R&B and pop chart hit. Since then, it has been interpreted and recorded by numerous blues and other musicians. King's original "Hide Away" has been acknowledged by the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Although "Hide Away" is credited to Freddie King and Sonny Thompson (pianist and A&R man at Federal Records) in an interview, Freddie King said that "Hide Away" came from a Hound Dog Taylor song called "Taylor's Boogie". Shakey Jake Harris, a harmonica player who played with Magic Sam, said "At that time me and Sam was playing at Mel's Hideaway [Mel's Hide Away Lounge, a Chicago blues club where many of the blues musicians of the era played]. That's where Freddie King's 'Hide Away' comes from. We stole it from Hound Dog Taylor, and Freddie King stole it from us. It used to be our theme song. It was Magic Sam's theme song. And so Freddie King would come in and jam with us until he learnt that song". Magic Sam recorded a variation of the song, "Do The Camel Walk", in 1961 (Chief 7026).

In his autobiography, Willie Dixon suggests that he named the song "Hideaway". He went on to say that "the guy who really wrote 'Hideaway' was this guy called Irving Spencer, the one I used to play with back on Madison Street, that was on Koko Taylor's first first recording. He was playing that 'Hideaway' for years before anybody paid any attention to it". Dixon also claimed that Freddie King had recorded "Hideaway" earlier for Cobra Records, but none of his Cobra material was ever issued.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Hound Dog Taylor and Little Walter

Little Walter joined Muddy Waters' band in 1948, and by 1950, he was playing acoustic (unamplified) harmonica on Muddy's recordings for Chess Records; the first appearance on record of Little Walter's amplified harmonica sound was on Muddy's "Country Boy"/"Too Young To Know" (Chess 1452), recorded on July 11, 1951. For years after his departure from Muddy's band in 1952, Little Walter continued to be brought in to play on his recording sessions, and as a result his harmonica is featured on most of Muddy's classic recordings from the 1950s.[8] As a guitarist, Little Walter recorded three songs for the small Parkway label with Muddy Waters and Baby Face Leroy Foster (reissued on CD as "The Blues World of Little Walter" from Delmark Records in 1993), as well as on a session for Chess backing pianist Eddie Ware; his guitar work was also featured occasionally on early Chess sessions with Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers.

How can you go wrong with two of the best talents of the time. Here is a feature of Hound Dog with Little Walter playing an old Elmore James Song. Wild About You Baby.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Blues can be fun! - Hound Dog Taylor

Doesn't have to be sad... Houndog had a blast...even if he got drunk and cut off his own finger (leaving just 10)!
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click Here