Alligator Records 40th Anniversary

About the Artist You could say Alligator Records was born in January, 1970, at a little neighborhood bar called Florence’s Lounge on Chicago’s South Side. On a Sunday afternoon, a young blues fan named Bruce Iglauer, newly arrived in the city dropped in to check out a gig by a tall, gangly guitarist that everyone called “Dog.” When Iglauer stepped into the crowded little club packed with dancing, drinking, laughing patrons, he was overwhelmed by joyful, raw and energized electric boogie blues. Hound Dog Taylor, perched on a folding chair with a steel slide on the fifth of his six fingers, was pouring out piercing, distorted licks and chords on a cheap Japanese guitar and singing in a high, cracking true bluesman’s voice. He was accompanied only by a broken-toothed second guitarist named Brewer Phillips, playing bass lines on an old Fender Telecaster, and a gum-chewing drummer named Ted Harvey who propelled every song forward, picking up the tempo on his minimalist kit, and making it impossible to keep from dancing. It was simply the happiest music Iglauer ever heard, and he decided there and then it had to be recorded. Iglauer spent the next year and a half learning everything he could about making and selling records from his boss and mentor, Bob Koester of Delmark Records. Finally, in May of 1971, he was ready to take this amazing little band into the studio. He wanted to capture the spirit of Florence’s Lounge on tape, for all the world to hear. And fueled by a sufficient amount of Canadian Club and the encouragement of co-producer Wesley Race, Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers delivered just that spirit. They fulfilled Iglauer’s dream, and started another one–now he wanted to record the other wonderful bands he was hearing every night in the little blues bars on the South and West Sides of Chicago, musicians like Koko Taylor, Fenton Robinson, Carey Bell and Son Seals. And soon, the dream expanded to recording blues musicians from all across the country, legendary artists like Albert Collins and Professor Longhair and Johnny Otis, and talented newcomers like Shemekia Copeland and Corey Harris. When Iglauer created Alligator Records, the first promo piece to promote that very first Hound Dog Taylor album was headed “Genuine Houserockin’ Music.” That became Alligator’s slogan, a slogan the label wears proudly today. “Genuine” because the music Alligator records is deeply rooted in the blues tradition (even when it pushes the standard definition of blues) and is created by musicians who have honed their songs not on synthesizers in their bedrooms, but in front of real audiences, responding to the emotional needs of their listeners. “House” instead of “theatre” or “arena” or “stadium”, because Alligator’s music is ultimately intimate, even when it’s big and loud. It’s not meant to be presented. It’s meant to be shared between the musicians and the audience, like everyone at Florence’s shared the music with Hound Dog Taylor. And “Rockin'” because it’s designed to move you. Most of Alligator’s records will move your feet or your body, but the label has tried to make records that will move that other part of you–your soul. Sometimes that can mean music that cleanses your inner pain by pulling it out of you, the “hurts so good” that is so special to the blues. And sometimes it just means the pure release and fun of musicians pouring their energy into a great groove. Over the forty years, Alligator’s definition of “Genuine Houserockin’ Music” has expanded to include not only pure blues artists, but also musicians & songwriters who have taken the spirit of the blues and created their own sounds and styles, sometimes called “roots rock” or “rockabilly” or “front porch soul” or, in a few cases, gospel, the ultimate soul-rockin’ music. But Alligator’s mission has remained the same–to record honest, blues-infused music that moves the feet and soothes the soul, and hopefully makes you feel as good as a Sunday afternoon at Florence’s Lounge. Product Description Budget-priced double CD release celebrating the 40th anniversary of the world’s premier blues label. 38 songs (over 157 minutes of music) showcasing 40 years of career-defining recordings by a star-studded Who’s Who of American blues and roots music artists past and present. From the Artist According to Iglauer, “Alligator should be the label that’s exposing the next generation of blues artists and bringing their music to the next generation of blues fans. I want the future of the blues and the future of Alligator Records to be one and the same.”