In the latter half of 2002 I was living in a loft in downtown Kansas City. My then 11-year old son Alex would come over on the weekends and we’d stay up late tag teaming any two-player video game we could get our hands on while listening to The Fish Fry, a local radio program that serves up “the best blues, R&B, soul, jumpin’ jazz and zydeco.”

On one particular night towards the end of the year we took a trip up to Best Buy to pick up the game that everyone was talking about at the time – Grant Theft Auto: Vice City. On the drive back home I tuned the radio to The Fish Fry while Alex cracked open the game to start reading the manual.

And that’s when we both heard the following lyrics:

“Gimme back my wig / Honey, now let your head go bald / Gimme back my wig / Honey, now let your head go bald/ Really didn’t have no business / Honey, buyin’ you no wig at all”

“Give Me Back My Wig” – Hound Dog Taylor ( iTunes )

I don’t think that there had ever been a time before – and definitely no time since – that my son and I fell in love with a musical artist at the same time…but there we were, with this gripping sound pouring out of my car speakers coupled with some of the funniest lines we’d heard in quite some time. After the song ended we waited for Chuck to let us know who has just brought smiles to our faces but we somehow missed it. Arriving home we made a mad dash up to my computer so that we could figure out what this blues guy singing about wigs was all about.

Ken? Alex? May the world of music introduce you to…Hound Dog Taylor.

We learned all we could about Hound Dog that night. Born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 with six fingers on his left hand, Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor originally played piano but picked up the guitar when he was twenty years old. He moved to Chicago in the early 1940s and took up a career as a full-time musician in his late thirties. For years his killer slide sound could be heard pouring out of shoestring-budget guitars as he and his band The House Rockers made their name in small clubs in the Chicago blue scene. He was introduced to a much larger audience in 1971 when his business manager, Bruce Iglauer, sunk a $2,500 inheritance into creating the record label Alligator Records to record Hound Dog’s debut album. Sadly, four years later, Hound Dog would die of lung cancer in 1975 but not before leaving his mark: in 1984 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Fish and I couldn’t wait to hear more. I did an artist search on iTunes for Hound Dog Taylor and bought every single song that was available. We stayed up all night listening to the man’s collective discography, which included many tracks recorded live in the clubs he and The House Rockers frequented. One thing that I’ve grown to love about his performances is how personal he’d become with the audience. On one particular track he tells the audience, with an alcohol-induced slur, that he has to go “see a man about a horse” but then sticks around to play one more piece that brings the house down. Simply put, the man could make everyone in a club have some fun.

“Wild About You Baby” – Hound Dog Taylor ( iTunes )

Since our own discovery of Hound Dog Taylor that night I’ve introduced his collective works to a number of family and friends. Each and every one of them has since become a fan of this skinny little man who could play the hell out of his guitar. It’s just unfortunate that he passed away shortly after his fame truly began to grow.

With only three actual albums released, the rest of his discography is made up of live recordings pulled from the various juke-joints he played throughout the years.

“When I die, they’ll say ‘he couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good!’”
—Hound Dog Taylor

Compliments of iTunes:

• Hound Dog Taylor and The Houserockers (1971)
• Beware Of The Dog! (1976)
• Genuine Houserocking Music (1982)
• Natural Boogie (1989)
• Live at Joe’s Place (1992)
• Have Some Fun (1992)
• Deluxe Edition (1999)
• Release The Hound (2004)
• Live In Boston (2006)

He also has various tracks that have appeared as part of compilations released throughout the years.

In 1998 various artists, including Hound Dog’s protege and former roadie George Thorogood, got together to release “Hound Dog Taylor: A Tribute”. One track in particular on the album – Gov’t Mule’s take on “Gonna Send You Back To Georgia” – did the unthinkable…they took a certified Hound Dog hit and played it with the same kind of “let’s have fun” energy to almost make it better than the original. Almost, I said.

“Gonna Send You Back to Georgia” – Gov’t Mule ( iTunes )

On a number of occasions Hound Dog was quoted as having said “When I die, they’ll say ‘he couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good!’” I’ll have to disagree with you, Hound Dog. You could play VERY well. I’ve hunted down just about every single piece you ever recorded and there’s not a bad bit in the bunch. Having been a big blues fan now for almost half of my life now I have to say you’re my favorite blues man ever.