It started with the searing sound of a slide careening up the neck of an
electric guitar. In 1970, twenty-three-year-old Bruce Iglauer walked
into Florence's Lounge, in the heart of Chicago's South Side, and was
overwhelmed by the joyous, raw Chicago blues of Hound Dog Taylor and the
HouseRockers. A year later, Iglauer produced Hound Dog's debut album in
eight hours and pressed a thousand copies, the most he could afford.
From that one album grew Alligator Records, the largest independent
blues record label in the world.
Bitten by the Blues is Iglauer's memoir of a life immersed in the
blues--and the business of the blues. No one person was present at the
creation of more great contemporary blues music than Iglauer: he
produced albums by Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Professor Longhair,
Johnny Winter, Lonnie Mack, Son Seals, Roy Buchanan, Shemekia Copeland,
and many other major figures. In this book, Iglauer takes us behind the
scenes, offering unforgettable stories of those charismatic musicians
and classic sessions, delivering an intimate and unvarnished look at
what it's like to work with the greats of the blues. It's a vivid
portrait of some of the extraordinary musicians and larger-than-life
personalities who brought America's music to life in the clubs of
Chicago's South and West Sides. Bitten by the Blues is also an
expansive history of half a century of blues in Chicago and around the
world, tracing the blues recording business through massive transitions,
as a genre of music originally created by and for black southerners
adapted to an influx of white fans and musicians and found a worldwide
audience.
Most of the smoky bars and packed clubs that fostered the Chicago blues
scene have long since disappeared. But their soul lives on, and so does
their sound. As real and audacious as the music that shaped it, Bitten
by the Blues is a raucous journey through the world of Genuine
Houserockin' Music.
