Theodore Roosevelt Taylor's Natural Boogie!!

The picture above is the hand of Theodore Roosevelt Taylor. To the common folk he goes by the name of Hound Dog Taylor. He has six fingers, try to figure that one out. Hound Dog Taylor is one of my favorite blues guitar players. I tell people that if you don't groove to his playing then you have no soul. Every time I play the album my body is just in tuned with what he is doing. He is an amazing slide guitar player and his bluesy voice is a great hook. He has people who sight him a huge influence and one of them is George Thorogood.

What makes Hound Dog Taylor so great is his wonderful past that he soaked up in the blues. He and his trio make great music together and what is more fascinating is the fact that the trio is two guitars and drums. The second guitar playing of Brewer Phillips is sounding like a fuzzy bass. The drummer keeps up with both of them so well he makes it sound so perfect. Brewers playing can be described like this. His backup work behind Hound Dog Taylor's trio with no bass player -- finds him alternating between the icepick-in-your-ear sheet-metal lead tones produced from his battered Telecaster to comping bass lines while simultaneously combining chords, all of it executed with a thumbpick and bare fingers. (AM)



With all that being said, this album, Natural Boogie took two nights to record. I would love to hear some of the outtakes and jams. Each song has a stamp of good ole fashion boogie. His drummer hits the skins like nobody. It's not powerful drumming, but it is damn' good playing. The song's sound like each one is a classic. It maybe a hard album to track down, but well worth the effort to listen to. I thought I knew Blues pretty well, but this album is amazing and is a must own.

I have a few of his albums and each is unique. I have some live studio stuff from 1971 and even that is got some kick to it. I cannot really describe an album that I know has a feel that will touch you in ways you will be a lover of boogie music. I am sure that if you listen to it you too can stake claim to an album with amazing influence. All the great blues people owe a huge debt to Hound Dog's playing and his tight and fun sound.