I know Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton is an obvious choice. It almost didn’t make the cut for that very reason. This version of the Lieber and Stoller tune is the first and still the best. The song was given to the Houston based musician in Los Angeles by the famed songwriting duo and recorded by Annie May “Big Mama” Thornton in 1952. The record was produced by Johnny Otis and released on the Peacock label out of Houston. I pulled this song from the Arhoolie Records release, Ball and Chain. This 15 song collection of Thornton’s singles includes other critter tunes such as Black Rat, Bumble Bee, and Little Red Rooster as well as the very moving title track. I love the way Thornton closes Hound Dog with the line, “And bow wow to all of you.”

In 2001, Stony Plain Records released an album by baritone sax man Doug James,  entitled Blow Mr. Low. James does an original instrumental entitled, Dog Ate My Reed. James has been a longtime sideman of Duke Robillard, going all the way back to the renowned guitarist's founding of Roomful of Blues in the late 60’s. He has been a member of Jimmie Vaughan’s Tilt a Whirl Band for the past couple of years. Blow Mr. Low represents the first album James recorded as a leader. Guests on Blow Mr. Low include Robillard and vocalist Sugar Ray Norcia. James’skills as a baritone sax man can be heard here, but his prowess as a writer, producer and arranger are in full effect on this CD as well. Also check out an album (if you can find it) simply entitled Doug James & Sax Gordon. This 2005 recording pairs James with fellow New England based musician and tenor giant “Sax” Gordon Beadle.

Dog House Blues is a tune by the Jimmy Wynn Orchestra Featuring Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. This tune was taken from the massive four disc 103 song compilation called Honk for Texas on the JSP label. This box set represents the most comprehensive recorded document of the great alto player and blues shouter. Along with sides that include Jimmy Wynn’s Orchestra you will find tracks that feature Vinson playing in Cootie Williams’ orchestra in New York City as well as tunes recorded under Vinson’s own name. All the classics are here including Kidney Stew Blues, Cleanhead Blues, Juice Head Baby and Lonesome Train.

Bubbins Rock comes from a great compilation by Bill Doggett entitled, The EP Collection. These sides are all taken from the seven EPs the organist and pianist recorded with the King label out of Cincinnati in the mid to late 50’s. Bubbins Rock is an original tune written by guitarist, long time Doggett sideman and fellow Philadelphian, Billy Butler. This tune, like the rest of this 25 song compilation, is pure organ, sax and Billy Butler bliss. This collection includes the Doggett classic Honky Tonk and a whole host of other terrific instrumentals. This collection even has Dogget living in the land of Elingtonia for a while as he takes on Duke’s Satin Doll, C-Jam Blues and Caravan.

She’s Gone is a tune on track one, side one of Alligator Records’ first release, entitled Hound Dog Taylor and The House Rockers. The 1971 album is the first chance most people got to hear the raw electric slide guitar and vocals of Theodore Roosevelt Taylor. The House Rockers are Brewer Philips on second guitar and Ted Harvey on drums. This trio represents the epitome of gritty, in your face, down home Chicago blues.  I have also heard a great version of this song from an album Dave plays from time to time called, Bird Nest on the Ground by Doyle Bramhall that came out on Antones Records in 1994. The late Texas drummer and terrific vocalist handled this material in the spirit of Hound Dog, raw to the bone.

I’ve Been Dogged by Women, by guitarist Anson Funderburgh and vocalist/harp man Sam Myers, came from the duo’s sixth collaboration entitled, That’s What They Want. This 1997 album is the last record they released on Black Top Records which folded in 1999. This song is a Sam Myers/Anson Funderburgh original and has a great groove. The album also reunites Anson and Sam with the great blues drummer Wes Starr who played on the pair’s first collaboration back in 1985 entitled, My Love is Here to Stay. Several of Anson’s albums with his band the Rockets, featuring Sam Myers, and the two albums he did prior to hooking up with Myers that feature vocalist and harp player Darrell Nulisch, have been re issued by Hep Cat Records. That’s What They Want however has not been re-issued. That is not what you want to hear if you don’t already own this great CD.

Black Dog Blues is a tune by Blind Blake. Blake was a man of immense talent. This tune is pulled from an album entitled, Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Finger Pickers. This album title only hints at the genius that is Blind Blake. The album has 28 tracks which were compiled from the 80 or so known recordings that the prolific artist waxed for the Paramount label between 1926 and 1932. Despite the celebrity he achieved in his own lifetime, and the huge legacy he left behind, there is only one known photograph of Blake. There is scant and often conflicting information on the man known as Blind Blake. Everything from his real name to the place of his birth has been disputed by historians for decades

Dog is a song from an album entitled Live at the Tower Theater: The Mofo Party Band. The Mofo Party Band is central California’s gift to the blues world. For over twenty years, this Fresno based ensemble has been led by the brothers Clifton; John out in front on vocals and harmonica and Bill on guitar. Their brother Grant pays bass on this recording and drummer Brian Brischel rounds out the rhythm section on drums. The tune Dog and the rest of this live album, capture the energy, intensity and fun of the Mofo Party Band. The entire album was recorded on the evening of October 29, 2011.

Hot Dog and a Beer by William Clarke is a great tune off the late harmonica player and vocalist’s 1987 album entitled Tip of the Top. The album is kind of an unofficial tribute to Clarke’s friend and mentor, George “Harmonica” Smith. Smith even guests on one track. The album also has some real heavyweights on guitar including Ronnie Earl and Michael “Hollywood Fats” Mann. On the song Hot Dog and a Beer it is Junior Watson however that just tears it up from top to bottom. Tip of the Top is a wonderful album where you can hear a musician of immense talent continuing to grow as an artist.

Low Down Dog comes from another Southern California based band, Lil’ A & the Allnighters. Their 2010 debut album entitled Special Project was re-issued last spring. The album was produced by long time Southern California based blues impresario Art Martel and features a tune by the late great William Clarke. It is however the old Smiley Lewis tune, Low Down Dog that is my personal favorite. The band’s front man vocalist and harmonica player, Alex Lil’ A Woodson is a Rod Piazza devotee. Piazza was also a protégé of George “Harmonica” Smith. The tradition continues. Lil’ A & The Allnighters is an example of a young band doing it the right way.  Alex Woodson is currently working on some original material for an upcoming album. One of those tunes, Hip Ya was previewed in front of a big crowd at this year’s Doheny Blues Festival.  

Shaggy Dog comes from Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters’ Full Gain. The 1988 album was originally released on Black Top Records at a time when the New Orleans based label could do no wrong. Black Top was famous for making great sounding records by resurrecting the careers of some very talented yet long over looked Gulf Coast based musicians. Grady Gaines, who is firmly rooted in the Honkin’ Texas tradition, had a career boost and was put back on the map largely on the strength of this great album. He is backed by a group of all-stars mostly based out of Houston. A notable exception is Bayou City ex-patriot and long time Los Angeleno, Grady’s brother, Roy Gaines. Roy Gaines shares guitar duties with Clarence Holliman. Both Gaines and Holliman played with Bobby Bland on some of his seminal recordings during the halcyon days of the Duke/Peacock label. Roy contributes vocals along with Joe Medwick and Big Robert Smith on some tracks but Shaggy Dog was written by Teddy Edwards who sings and plays piano on the tune.   

Dog Face Boy: Parts 1&2 by Johnny Otis comes from an album entitled Creepin’ with the Cat’s: The Legendary Dig Masters Volume One. These 22 sides are pulled from 1956 and ‘57 from Otis’ own Dig label. The songs here are a combination of instrumentals and vocal tracks, half of which hadn’t been previously re-issued on CD. Parts one and two of Dog Face Boy are my personal favorites. I love these two instrumental tracks despite the rather disturbing title of this Johnny Otis compilation. There are some real gems here along with a few misses. On the whole it is good record and if you are a Johnny Otis fan Creepin’ with the Cats can go a long way in filling out your library of vintage West Coast R&B. 

Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan’s version of Rosco Gordon’s No More Doggin’ is a good one. I am glad I heard the original first because I like the name Rosco. Nothing against the name Omar. As you might suspect I love the name of his other band, The Howlers and his label, Ruf Records. This song comes from the 2009 album Big Town Playboy which is a follow up to Dykes’ and Vaughan’s collaboration a couple of years earlier entitled, The Jimmy Reed Highway. No More Doggin’ also features James Cotton on harmonica. Dykes and Vaughan do some Jimmy Reed tunes on this album but also cover Slim Harpo, Jimmy McCkracklin, Reed’s guitarist Eddie Taylor, Ivory Joe Hunter and others. Like The Jimmy Reed Highway, Big Town Playboy’s core band is anchored by bassist Ronnie James Webber, drummer Wes Starr and rhythm guitarist Derek O’Brien. Guests include Lazy Lester, Lou Ann Barton and Gary Clark Jr. as well as the aforementioned Cotton. 

Just a Little Bit is another Rosco Gordon original. The tune it seems has been covered by every bar band in the blues. Female vocalists seem particularly fond of this catchy tune. A couple of other versions I hear around here are from albums by Little Milton and Jimmie Vaughan. Little Milton’s version comes from a two CD box set entitled Welcome to the Club: The Essential Chess Recordings. That great version recorded in 1969 features a very funky Fender bass line by Phil Upchurch. Jimmie Vaughan does a version on his 2010 album Blues, Ballads and Favorites. Dave will listen to just about anything when Jimmie Vaughan is playing guitar. The original though is my personal favorite, as I just love the way Rosco Gordon sings. This tune was taken from the great 30 song compilation entitled Rosco’s Rhythm that pulls sides from Gordon’s Sun and Vee-Jay recordings.     

Doggone My Bad Luck Soul is a song from Catfish Keith’s 2011 album, A True Friend is Hard to Find: A Gospel Retrospective. The tunes on this album have been compiled from the three decade career of one of this generation’s foremost practitioners of country acoustic slide and various finger picking guitar techniques and styles. The song Doggone My Bad Luck Soul came from Keith’s 1999 CD Pony Run. It is a slide guitar instrumental in which Keith busts out his National Baritone Polychrome Tricon for the first time. Catfish Keith is an international star and, as far as I am concerned, a national treasure.  I also like Catfish Keith’s other 2011 release entitled Putting on a Buzz as it has a picture of his dog Lily on the CD cover. Hubba, Hubba!

Lucky Dog comes from a 1998 Cannonball Records’ album by James Harman. The Alabama native and longtime Southern California resident’s CD entitled, Taking Chances finds the veteran songwriter, singer and harmonica player in the company of some of the great West Coast blues men of the era including guitarists Kid Ramos and Junior Watson. Harman has an astonishingly high batting average as I can’t recall him making a bad album in his long career. Taking Chances raises that average even higher. Taking Chances is a concept album if you will, where each of the twelve songs in this collection looks at the crap shoot that is life.   

Walkin’ through the Park by Muddy Waters is a song written by Mel London about my favorite outdoor recreational activity. The song was recorded in 1958 by Muddy and his great band which included James Cotton on harmonica, pianist Otis Spann, Francis Clay on drums as well as Pat Hare and Luther Tucker on guitars. This tune was originally released as a single and later appeared on the 1966 album Real Folk Blues. The tune can be found on several Muddy Waters compilations and reissues, but I pulled it from the massive nine disc box set, The Complete Chess Recordings 1947 – 1967. This box set cuts out on Muddy’s career before he took his two biggest missteps, the infamous Electric Mud and the rather languid London Sessions.     

Black Cat Bone comes from The Hollywood Blue Flames 2005 album, Soul Sanctuary on Delta Groove Music. I have mixed feelings about this song as I don’t like cats but LOVE bones. The bone wins out here on the strength of the fact this is just a damn good song. This tune is pulled from the first album on which these veteran musicians played under the banner of The Hollywood Blue Flames. The band’s producer, singer, harmonica player and principal song writer, Al Blake, along with pianist Fred Kaplan, bassist Larry Taylor and drummer Richard Innes first joined forces along with the late Michael “Hollywood Fats” Mann as The Hollywood Fats Band in the mid 70’s. They first reunited along with another young guitar phenom, Kirk Fletcher on Blake’s 2002 album Dr. Blake’s Magic Soul Elixir. This same ensemble recorded two more albums on Delta Groove Music, Road to Rio in 2006 and Deep in America in 2010. Both of these albums come with a second disc, which consists of previously unreleased live recordings from the early 1980’s with the one and only Hollywood Fats on guitar.

My Barking Bulldog Blues comes from a 1994 re-issue on the Columbia Legacy label  entitled, The Complete Brownie McGhee. The Piedmont blues guitarist became world renowned during the so-called folk blues revival of the 1960’s as part of a duo with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. It is, however, these 48 sides from the Okeh label from 1940 and 1941 that put the guitarist and singer on the map. McGhee’s style was heavily influenced by Blind Boy Fuller and you can hear some of that in the tune, My Barking Bulldog Blues recorded on August 6, 1940. As far as the album’s title is concerned it should be called, “The Complete Okeh Recordings” as McGhee went on to record for the next four decades.

Strollin’ With Bones by T-Bone Walker might as well be my theme song. I guess I should be glad that Dave doesn’t eat as much red meat as he used to but about twice a month or so he BBQs ribs and I am strollin’ with bones for another two weeks. This tune by the great Aaron Thibeaux Walker is taken from The Complete Imperial Recordings: 1950-1954. This two disc, 52 song set finds Walker at the apex of his career. By this time he had already recorded 75 sides which can be found on a three disc set entitled, The Complete Capitol/Black and White Recordings. Those tracks from the 40’s document the emergence of the modern electric guitar pioneer. The Imperial Recordings however may be the very best of his career. This is saying a lot as Walker went on to record some absolutely stunning sides for Atlantic using small combos. The work he did on the Imperial label has Walker in the company of some of the best musicians from L.A. and LA. The Los Angeles sessions in many cases feature the work of tenor sax great Maxwell Davis, for instance. The sessions he did with Dave Bartholomew out of New Orleans include the tenor saxophone of Lee Allen. In both of these musical settings, it is Walker’s singing and of course guitar playing that carries the day. Dave calls this box set a desert island disc. Strollin’ with Bones is a hard charging instrumental that is a tail wagging masterpiece.