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THEODORE
Hound
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 Theodore Roosevelt 'Hound Dog' Taylor, (obviously he could thank the president for his name), was born in April 1915 in Natchez, Mississippi. As a teenager he learned the piano, but when he was twenty years old he switched to the slide guitar. He first began performing on street corners, local juke joints and parties and fish fries. He moved to Chicago when he was twenty seven years old after receiving a good reception for some appearances he made on Sonny Boy Williamson's (Rice Miller) King Biscuit Time radio program in Helena, Arkansas. (It has also been alleged that he had fallen out with local 'Klansmen' in Mississippi.) For the next fifteen years Taylor worked a full time day job and performed in south side Chicago bars in the evenings, with weekends at the Maxwell Street market. He eventually turned full time to music in the late 1950's and made his first record in 1960 releasing "Take Five" for the Bea & Baby label, "Alley Music" for Firma in 1962, and "Down Home/Watch Yourself" in 1967. His recordings sold well locally but went largely unnoticed outside of Chicago. Eventually Taylor met up with Bruce Iglauer who worked for Delmark Records. Iglauer wanted to sign Taylor, along with his two man backing group the 'Houserockers' (Brewer Phillips and Ted Harvey). After being prevented from doing he formed his own company, Alligator records, still Chicago's leading blues label, to release Taylor's first album. This album, "Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers" received widespread critical acclaim and the group began touring, initially across the USA and subsequently to Europe. In 1973 their second album "Natural Boogie" was released, which included "Roll Your Moneymaker" and "Sadie", and this proved to be more successful than the first. A third 'live' album, "Beware of the Dog" was recorded in 1975 but sadly Taylor died of cancer in December 1975 just before it was released. It was a fitting tribute to a great blues rocker.
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