SENT IN BY:

Jimijam on April 12, 2010

I was flooooored when I heard "Gimme Back My Wig" from Beware of the Dog! Hound Dog smoked on that tune (fucking amazing!!)!!

SENT IN BY:

Ron McCullough on December 16, 2009

COMMENTS:

The Houserockers brought some real life to their shows and nothing was fake about it at all. If they were happy or pleased, it showed. If they were annoyed with each other it also showed. It was music about real life and real people. "I'll see you in the evening (or I won't see you at all)" a very real thing generated by lives lived. "Sadie"  -- Holy cow! Hound Dog could sing and I've wondered who he was singing about. The sense of loss is palpable.... Lives lived. Perhaps harder lives than any of us will ever know. I'll never forget Hound Dog's laugh - he'd try to tell jokes or share insights from the stage. Never made it out but he had this laugh and a certain infectious sense of joy about simple things. He would command his audience to "party chillin' party!" play the slide a bit and then stop and look around some - and then they'd all tie into whatever. The second time they came to Grinnell College in Iowa, I saw Hound Dog tickle the keys for a few minutes. Truth be told he played the keyboards better than the guitar. He was a talented fellow and not a sense of pretense amongst him or his band. 

SENT IN BY:

RB on October 14, 2006

FAVORITE SONG:

Give Me Back My Wig

COMMENTS:

I stumbled onto Hound Dog in Toronto in 72 or 73 (can't remember!) when I walked into the El Mocambo and there was this great big rumble and a million people dancing. Being a bass player, I kept peering around the pillars near the stage to see what the bassist was doing. Finally, I figured out -- there wasn't a bassist, and all that boogie just poured out of those couple of guitar amps!.... Man, he was the greatest...

SENT IN BY:

Eric (Thunder Fingers) on May 28, 2004

FAVORITE ALBUM:

All are as good as gold!

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Roll Your Moneymaker & What I'd say

COMMENTS:

Another aspiring guitarist that listens to the Dog! I came across his fine music while playing a videogame (driver 2 to be specific) I heard the song "Sitting Here Alone" and I was hooked. After badgering the employees at various music stores, I finally got my mitts on a copy of Hound Dog Taylor And The House Rockers. Since then I've been trying to adapt a bottleneck style of playing but it's as hard as hell. Oh well. . .best leave it to the masters.

SENT IN BY:

Mike Guion on April 26, 2004

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

It's Allright & She's Gone


COMMENTS:

When I was around 21 yrs. old (1971-72) a couple of my buddies came by my house and said that they were going over to the University of MN. to hear a band that was playing for free at Coffman Union. I recall we were smoking some pot rolled up in yellow banana papers, so, by the time we got in the area we were feeling pretty good. I was immediately totally taken in by the sound of what I heard. The only blues show I had seen to that point was B.B. King. The area where the band was playing was a large, flat, grass covered field,  we moved up to where the band was playing. There was no stage. We got within 5 feet of the band, right in front of a tall thin man sitting in a metal folding chair. He rocked back and forth the whole night, occasionally standing, always smiling, and quite often saying, "take me to the bar, somebody take me to the bar." After a while somebody figured out that he was just asking for a drink. The other guitar player kept making funny faces at us every time we fired up another one of those banana joints. He too was having a real good time. The man on drums had a shaved head, a black sleeveless t-shirt, and had the strangest beat I had ever heard. All three of these guys just drove each other all night. I think I was smiling from the time I sat down till the end of the show. Of course this was Hound Dog, Brewer and Ted. It's one of my favorite musical memories, and it was such a fluke that I was their at all. The last time Jimmie Rogers came through town, about a year before he died, Ted was playing drums with Jimmie. I got to talk to him, re-live that night, tell him how much it had meant to me. I mentioned his black sleeveless shirt, and he pulled open the shirt he was wearing that night, and said "I'm still wearing it" and sure enough he was wearing one.

Bruce Iglauer's reply to this:

Great memory... I was at the gig too. We caravaned two cars as far as Janesville, WI, when Ted's car threw a rod. We then rented a trailer, abandoned Ted's car permanently, and got to Minneapolis for this early evening show. After the show we had planned to drive back home through the night rather than pay for a motel. The band was drunk so I drove, but I got sleepy so reluctantly allowed Brewer (drunk) to drive. I went to sleep in the back seat. I woke up when he hit a deer. Then I went back to sleep. I woke up again to find we had run out of gas in the middle of a forest at about 2 am. Hound Dog flagged down a car, and got some gas somehow. When I finally woke up for good it was dawn, and Hound Dog, who couldn't see shit, was driving without his glasses. I got behind the wheel and got us home. It's amazing we didn't get killed, all to save motel money.

SENT IN BY:
Ed Fitzgerald on April 5, 2004

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Give Me Back My Wig & She's Gone


COMMENTS:

I first saw Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers at a blues festival at the Univ. of Notre Dame, South Bend Indiana, in 1970. He lit the place on fire. What a groove! I later bought one of his albums (around 1974) and I have no idea what the name of it was, but it had a song that began with something like "hot pants, short skirts all around". What song this is I don't know, maybe I'm still hallucinating from 1970, but I would appreciate any help in figuring it out. Thanks, and God bless all who play from their souls!

SENT IN BY:

Bryn on February 22, 2004

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

It Hurts Me To & Give Me Back My Wig

COMMENTS:

I became an eternal Hound Dog fan the first time I heard these tunes, and also being a songwriter have been heavily inspired by these crazy rhythms!!

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Sadie & Give Me Back My Wig

COMMENTS:

Today there are thousands and thousands of Hound Dog Taylor fans, but when he was alive there wasn't so many. I hope better fortune for actually living artists

Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Taylor's Rock & Give Me Back My Wig

COMMENTS:

No one can beat Hound Dog, Brewer, and Ted. The best blues there was and the best there will be.


SENT IN BY:

Bob Wrobel on October16, 2002

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Taylor's Rock & She's Gone

COMMENTS:

HDT had a way to crank a song up a notch, he made his guitar sound so huge. I'm whicha baby! Bless you, Dog.


SENT IN BY:

Eric Brown on September 6, 2002

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Live In Boston

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Gonna Send You Back To Georgia & Wild About You Baby

COMMENTS:

I wish I could've seen him play!!

Simply the best raw guitar style allied to the best drummer in the blues. The guvnor!


SENT IN BY:

Benoit F on July 2, 2002

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Beware Of The Dog

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

It's Alright  &  The Sun is Shining

COMMENTS:

Le meilleur du genre (The Best)


SENT IN BY:

G Cameron on June 5, 2002

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Beware Of The Dog

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Rock Me &  Freddie's Blues

COMMENTS:

I wish this guy had put out more stuff or was still around to see live!!!

FAVORITE ALBUM:

Beware Of The Dog

TWO FAVORITE SONGS:

Give Me Back My Wig &  She's Gone

COMMENTS:

Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers did a great 10 minute cover of 'Give Me Back My Wig' in his 2001 tour. Let's
hope he keeps it up in 2002! We all remember HDT and the Houserockers at the Cove in Kent, OH., and the recording at the Smiling Dog Saloon, of Beware of the Dog. There was nothing like it...so good ...so much fun...."I got to go see a man 'bout a horse.."..all fans remember that line!!

Beware Of The Dog

SENT IN BY:

Garry Dhillon on January 5, 2002

FAVORITE SONGS:

Walking The Ceiling &  Shes Gone

COMMENTS:

He sure made them songs sound good!