Biography
Alligator Records originated in Chicago when Bruce Iglauer, then working at Delmark under Bob Koester, found no support for recording Hound Dog Taylor and therefore founded the imprint himself in 1971 solely to issue the guitarist’s first album.
Born in Mississippi and christened after Theodore Roosevelt, Taylor began playing guitar at age twenty. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s KFFA King Biscuit Time broadcasts from Helena, Arkansas, before relocating to Chicago in 1942; fifteen more years passed before he made blues his sole profession. By the late 1950s and early 1960s he had become a regular attraction on the city’s South and West sides, where Freddy King reportedly absorbed much of the instrumental “Hide Away” from Taylor’s live sets.
Prior to Alligator, Taylor’s discography consisted of three modest singles: the 1960 Bea & Baby release pairing “Baby Is Coming Home” with “Take Five,” the 1962 Firma 45 containing “Christine” and “Alley Music,” and the 1967 Checker coupling “Watch Out” with “Down Home.”
His band the HouseRockers operated as a lean trio whose sound belied its size. Second guitarist Brewer Phillips supplied droning, bass-like lines that meshed with Taylor’s slide through near-telepathic interplay, while drummer Ted Harvey maintained an insistent forward momentum.
The 1971 debut album introduced the boisterous “Give Me Back My Wig.” Its 1973 successor, Natural Boogie, featured the trance-like “Sadie” alongside the pounding “Roll Your Moneymaker.” The live recording Beware of the Dog later preserved Taylor’s infectious stage presence, yet the guitarist succumbed to cancer before the set reached stores.
Taylor supplied the template for Alligator’s enduring slogan “Genuine Houserocking Music,” a philosophy the label has maintained across more than four decades. Though never the most technically polished slide player, he reliably ignited any venue he entered.
Born in Mississippi and christened after Theodore Roosevelt, Taylor began playing guitar at age twenty. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s KFFA King Biscuit Time broadcasts from Helena, Arkansas, before relocating to Chicago in 1942; fifteen more years passed before he made blues his sole profession. By the late 1950s and early 1960s he had become a regular attraction on the city’s South and West sides, where Freddy King reportedly absorbed much of the instrumental “Hide Away” from Taylor’s live sets.
Prior to Alligator, Taylor’s discography consisted of three modest singles: the 1960 Bea & Baby release pairing “Baby Is Coming Home” with “Take Five,” the 1962 Firma 45 containing “Christine” and “Alley Music,” and the 1967 Checker coupling “Watch Out” with “Down Home.”
His band the HouseRockers operated as a lean trio whose sound belied its size. Second guitarist Brewer Phillips supplied droning, bass-like lines that meshed with Taylor’s slide through near-telepathic interplay, while drummer Ted Harvey maintained an insistent forward momentum.
The 1971 debut album introduced the boisterous “Give Me Back My Wig.” Its 1973 successor, Natural Boogie, featured the trance-like “Sadie” alongside the pounding “Roll Your Moneymaker.” The live recording Beware of the Dog later preserved Taylor’s infectious stage presence, yet the guitarist succumbed to cancer before the set reached stores.
Taylor supplied the template for Alligator’s enduring slogan “Genuine Houserocking Music,” a philosophy the label has maintained across more than four decades. Though never the most technically polished slide player, he reliably ignited any venue he entered.
Albums
