The Six-Fingered Hound Dog

The third thing missing from the Oxford American’s 2012 Southern Music issue?  The six fingers of Hound Dog Taylor.

Hound Dog is the rare Chicago bluesman to hail from Natchez, Mississippi.  His hard, electrified slide ride falls somewhere between Elmore James and George Thorogood, a massive wall of good-time, house rockin’ music in the key of open-E.  There is a rumor that Freddy King stole “Hideaway” from Hound Dog.  This tale alone, tall or not, would be sufficient to cement Hound Dog’s place in the bluescape. 

But I’m not here to write a biography.  The blues turns men into freaks – or maybe it takes the freakish to find the blues.  Hard drinking, fast living, prone to perversion, creatures of the wild American night.  Mean, sly, and lo-fi.  I first saw this freakishly enchanting picture on the cover of Guitar Player magazine when I was about eight years old, and I’ve never forgotten it.