HOUND DOG TAYLOR - TAKE FIVE (10")

Theodore "Hound Dog" Taylor was born on April 12, 1917, in Natchez, Mississippi. By day he worked in the fields; by night, he played in juke joints in the Delta. In 1942, after a dangerous encounter with the Ku Klux Klan, he fled the South for Chicago. There he took a day job while building his reputation as a musician, performing in blues clubs on the South Side and West Side, as well as on the city streets. It wasn't until the late 1950s that he devoted himself entirely to music, playing regularly at the Expressway Lounge. Taylor developed a raw vocal style and a searing slide guitar technique, using an inexpensive Teisco Del Rey guitar plugged into a Sears Roebuck amplifier. He also had polydactyly, meaning he had an extra finger on each hand. Hound Dog Taylor first recorded in 1960 for Bea and Baby Records and again in 1962 for the Firma label. The resulting singles were their only releases during the 1960s, and these four songs are included on this record.

Taylor died in December 1975, after releasing four albums with the Alligator label, leaving these words as his epitaph: "When I die, they'll say, 'I couldn't play shit, but damn, I sounded good!'"

A1 My Baby's Coming Home
A2 Take Five
A3 Christine
B1 Alley Music
B2 Set A Date
B3 Can't Afford To Do It