Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers

Contrary to whatever stereotypes have been created to cover the contemporary bluesman, there is a side to the blues that has absolutely nothing to do with whiskey-fed misery, financial hard times or woman troubles. In certain hands the blues can become not an excuse to wallow in misery, but an invitation to escape from it: a rocking, driving celebration designed to exorcise whatever foul spirits are at work. When you’re talking about those kind of blues, you’re talking about Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers.

Hound Dog was born some 27 years ago in Natchez, Mississippi, as Theodore Roosevelt Taylor. Raised in the heart of the Delta country, a large chunk of his education was given over to the blues; his specialty fast became slide guitar. His mastery of that time-honored technique is evidenced in the testimonial of Buddy Guy (no slouch, either, When it comes to guitar playing): “Hound Dog Taylor is the last of the real good slide guitar players.”