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Bluesman Brewer Phillips Dead
Hound Dog Taylor sideman, dies - news from Alligator Records
Blues guitarist Brewer Phillips, best known for his recordings and live performances as a
member of Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers, died of natural causes in his
South Side apartment on Monday, August 30, 1999.
His signature tune, "Phillips' Theme" was featured on Taylor's 1971
debut album, HOUND DOG TAYLOR AND THE HOUSEROCKERS for the then-brand-new
label, Alligator Records. That album was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame
in 1996. The song (as well as "Phillips Goes Bananas") was recently
included on DELUXE EDITION, a collection of Hound Dog Taylor's greatest
recordings. Phillips' unique style -- alternating between playing bass lines
and wild lead guitar -- made the Houserockers rock without the need for a bass
player. He was idolised by younger generation blues players, especially George
Thorogood.
According to Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer, "Brewer was one of
the rawest and most energised bluesmen I ever heard. His playing and singing
were totally unpolished; he took lots of musical chances and made tons of
mistakes, but his playing was full of infectious rhythmic drive, and he had
more fun on the bandstand than virtually anyone I've ever seen. His sound was from
the earliest days of electric blues guitar. It combined Delta and Chicago
styles with wild string bending, natural distortion and overdrive that younger
blues rockers have never quite been able to match."
In 1997, Phillips joined Cub Koda on Hound Dog Taylor's song, "Take
Five," on Alligator's HOUND DOG TAYLOR -- A TRIBUTE. Hound Dog Taylor
recordings featuring Phillips were 1974's NATURAL BOOGIE, and two posthumously
released albums: 1976's live, Grammy Award-nominated BEWARE OF THE DOG, and
1982's Grammy Award - nominated GENUINE HOUSEROCKING MUSIC.
Phillips was born in Coila, Mississippi, probably in 1930, and grew up on a
small farm. He started playing blues as a boy, and gigged around West Memphis
in the late 1940s. First taught by Memphis Minnie, Phillips backed Roosevelt
Sykes, Joe Hill Louis and Memphis Slim. Phillips found work as a carpenter when
he came to Chicago in 1952, and considered music mostly as a hobby until he
recorded with Taylor in 1971. Phillips played in the raw, distorted style of
West Memphis, but considered Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Reed and Hound Dog Taylor
the main influences on his music. He teamed up with Hound Dog in 1957 in a West
Side tavern and stayed with him until Taylor's death in 1975. While with
Taylor, Phillips played the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1970, 1972 and 1973,
and toured nationally as well as touring Australia and New Zealand.
After Taylor's death, Phillips continued making music. He gigged and recorded
with J.B. Hutto and Cub Koda. He played the Chicago Blues Festival and released
his only solo album, HOME BREW, on Delmark Records in 1996. Information on
funeral arrangements is pending.
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