So when it came out that the guy who created this company was releasing a special triple-CD set called “Alligator Records — 50 Years Of Genuine Houserockin’ Music” and was available for interviews, well, I just had to chat with Bruce Iglauer about the special milestone his company’s achieved.
Q: Let’s get to the matter at hand, Alligator Records is turning 50, congratulations, man! Iglauer: Yeah, but it just started the other day, Lucky! was the anniversary of the first session.
Q: Well, back when I started out, I worked with a lot of blues record labels like Blind Pig, you guys, the Rounder/Philo Records’ Bullseye…Iglauer: And then Virgin {Records} had their blues series, Point Blank, and Atlantic had a very brief series, then Sony opened OKEY and something with a number on it.
When Shemekia Copeland took her vacation from Alligator, as we like to think of it, she went to Telarc.
Q: So those are the labels I’ve worked with over the years, and now, to be honest, I’m only working with one.
I think back to records that were released by friends of mine on labels that disappeared, rather quickly in some cases, because they were huge blues fans but they thought that making the record was the hard part, and making the record was the easy, fun part where it’s selling the record and getting the public aware of the record that is the battle.
In addition, I knew that there was a lot of rock ‘n’ roll press at the time, there were plenty of weekly entertainment papers, usually free, that did music stories and record reviews and I was prepared to give away more promotional copies of the first Hound Dog Taylor, and any other Alligator records, as years have gone on, than anybody else in the blues world.
If I had started with a different artist, not Hound Dog Taylor, not somebody who made people laugh and smile, but somebody who was, perhaps, more serious or more traditional, Hound Dog was traditional but it was not the tradition people think of when they think of traditional blues, the don’t think of up-tempo boogie and people getting happy.
Q: Now, about this 3-CD set you’re releasing,how did you go about picking the material that’s on it? Iglauer: Well, the CD set has 58 tracks and the 2-LP vinyl sets in a gate-fold packaging and it’s the best of the best with 24 tracks.
You know, I’m a year older than you are and I’m thinking a lot about the careers that need to be launched and nurtured of the artists who will be carrying this music on for the next 30, 40, 50 years.
Q: Well, I appreciate it more than words, and is there anything, sir, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article? Iglauer: It’s something I’ve already expressed and that’s my commitment to the future of blues, to finding the artists who are going to define this music for the next 50 years just like I found the artists who defined it for the last 50 years.