t the first day hiding in drainage ditches and then the next day he headed for Chicago. He never went back.
Although he continued to play his guitar semi-professionally at night, he spent the first 15 years in Chicago working several different non music jobs.
In 1957 he was building TV cabinets when he decided to become a full-time bluesman. At this time he also changed his playing style.
Where he once played standard and E tunings, he now was playing an increasingly more bottleneck style. This change came about by his being heavy influenced by the then emerging Elmore James.
Early on he garnered a huge local following with his wild live shows, most of the time he would be sitting on a folding chair, stomping both feet, throwing his head back in a frency, drinking Canadian Club and puffing on his cigarettes, urging the crowd to get up and dance, as he blared away on his guitar.
Taylor became one of Chicago's most loved bluesmen and a local favorite on the South and West sides of town.
It was during this time that he picked up the name "Hound Dog". He was in a club one night chasing a couple of women around when a friend called him a hound dog because he was always on the hunt for woman. The name stuck.
It was also around this time when one night, a drunken Hound would, with a straight razor, cut off the small extra finger on his right hand.
Hound Dog's second album, Natural Boogie was released in 1973 and was filled with more great slide guitar.
All the songs for this second album were recorded and mixed at the same sessions back in '71 that produced the first album.
Yet this new album had it's own, somewhat different feel to it. Hound Dog himself liked this album better that his first. The album got more positive reviews, as did Hound Dog in general.
A blaring guitar is the first thing you hear to start off this album, but it does become more tame (for Taylor's style anyway) as the song, 'Take Five", and album itself progresses.
"Hawaiian Boogie" follows with a wonderful clean slide, and then we move on to "See Me In The Morning" where Hound Dog mellows big time with his guitar and adds a real fine vocal.
Two of the next three songs - "You Can't Sit Down" and "One More Time", have a almost '50s guitar Rockabilly Revival sound to them and they turn out super. Sandwiched between them is "Sitting At Home Alone" with a similar but more distorted riff that can be heard on "Held My Baby Last Night", from his first album.
As this album plays on it only gets better with "Roll Your Moneymaker" starting off a string of great cuts. "Buster's Boogie" has one fine guitar flow to it and then comes the album's best song, "Sadie".
A pure blues tune and according to his manager, this was the first song that Hound Dog ever sat down and wrote the lyrics to. In the past he would just make up lyrics after he had a new riff laid down. But not on this baby, and you can almost feel the difference in the way he sings this song.
"Talk To My Baby" followers with even more great blues and then Hound Dog kisses us goodnight with the vibrating guitar sound that accommodates "Goodnight Boogie".
"Put this cd on and imagine it's Saturday night in a small club on the south side of Chicago.
It's noisy, crowded and hot, you've got an ice-cold beer in front of you, and there's this 3 piece blues band on stage hammering out some of the best, no-frills blues you've heard.
God's own slide-guitarist is leading the group. The other two guys are trying to hang on for dear life (and doing a darn good job of it). You wouldn't want your younger sister listening to these guys play "Roll Your Moneymaker," but someone else's sister, well, that's another story. This is the real deal."
"When I die, they'll say 'he couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good!".... Hound Dog made those comments more than once in his lifetime. |
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