Last night I was listenening to Keb Mo's Blues Series on satellite radio and he played some Hounddog Taylor tracks and I was absolutely gobsmacked by his incredible prowess on the slide,just beyond belief what this guy could do and then it became apparent where some of his ability came from-he had 6 fingers on his left hand and with the slide on his pinky he still had 5 fingers free.They used to sit behind their amps because it was too loud to sit in front of them.He apparently had a severe drinking problem and producers were reluctant to record him but one young production assistant was so enthralled by Hound Dog's playing that he took a gamble and got him on vinyl.His band The House Rockers is amazing also and the drummer has been likened to Keith Moon-his drumming is that frantic and unbelieveably tight-it's like one solo right through every song but it never detracts from the other's playing.That's another CD to add to my growing Must Have list.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Oh man, I absolutely love Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers. These guys were sort of the punk rock of blues bands - raw, in your face, cheap instruments, couldn't care about any of the niceties or subtleties of the music, just went for broke. The thing is, Hound Dog really was a killer slide player, and the band, together, just smoked. Take a look at YouTube; there are a few videos, and you can see Hound Dog just grinning away, rockin' the blues and having a blast. Makes me smile every time I listen to him.

I love Hound Dog's stuff.

I first heard it in a CD store years ago.

I was there to look for a Stu Hamm CD that I couldn't find anywhere--and somebody told me to try this little place that might have it, and if they didn't, they could order it for me.

I wasn't going to spend long in the store--just look for Stu Hamm's Kings of Sleep and then order it if they didn't have it (Great album by the way.)

But when I walked in they were playing Hound Dog's album Natural Boogie.

I had to look around more I was so captivated by it.
When I went to the counter to order Kings of Sleep I asked what he was playing--he told me and I had to buy that CD too. It remains one of my all time favorites. And I was also disappointed to find Hound Dog was no longer among the living, and didn't have too many albums.

Here's a link to a picture of his hand-

http://www.wirz.de/music/oddities/grafik/taylor4.jpg

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