“I think the quality of our artists is what has led to such loyal Alligator fans. I can’t play any instrument, but I know good blues musicianship when I hear it. And I can feel the honest emotions when an artist can sing with real blues feeling. (That doesn’t mean that every Alligator artist is a great singer, but their singing can move me, and I hope has that soul-healing quality that I look for.) ”

Bruce Iglauer: Bitten By The Blues

Alligator Records, the largest contemporary blues label in the world

Bruce Iglauer is founder and CEO of legendary blues label Alligator Records. Iglauer started the label in 1971 — when he was a 23-year-old shipping clerk — to record and release an album from Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockers, his favorite band. Since then, Alligator Records has grown into “the leading record label for the blues”. Iglauer has spent his career championing artists including Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Lonnie Brooks, Mavis Staples and Charlie Musselwhite, among many others. The label’s current roster includes Marcia Ball, Selwyn Birchwood, Tommy Castro, James Cotton, Jesse Dee, Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, JJ Grey & Mofro, The Holmes Brothers, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Anders Osborne, Roomful of Blues, Curtis Salgado, the Siegel-Schwall Band, Jarekus Singleton and Joe Louis Walker. Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Wyoming, Ohio. He became interested in the blues during the mid-1960s while attending Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He began hosting a college radio show, then moved on to promoting concerts at Lawrence by Howlin' Wolf and Luther Allison.

(Bruce Iglauer / Photo © by Chris Monaghan)

He came to Chicago in 1966 as a “blues pilgrim” who wanted to check out the University of Chicago Folk Festival. He came to Bob Koester's attention and joined the Delmark Records staff in Chicago as a shipping clerk in 1970. He was a co-founder of Living Blues magazine in 1970. When Delmark declined Iglauer's advice to sign Hound Dog Taylor & The House Rockers, he recorded the group himself and, in so doing, created Alligator Records in 1971. Iglauer has also been presented with two "Keeping The Blues Alive" awards from the Blues Foundation, one as an artist manager and one for his producing. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1997. Iglauer wrote a book, "Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story" (2018), published by the University of Chicago Press.

Interview by Michael Limnios

Special Thanks: Bruce Iglauer & Marc Lipkin (Alligator Records)

How has the Blues influenced your views of the world? What does the blues mean to you?

I first heard the blues when I was 18 and heard Mississippi Fred McDowell at a folk festival. I had little previous blues knowledge, but Fred’s performance moved me tremendously. It was raw and exciting but also soothed my soul. I went back to my college (in a small city in Wisconsin) and ordered his debut album on Arhoolie. It took the store 9 months to find a copy! So, I learned right away that blues touched me in a way that I didn’t know music could, and also that most blues was on small, hard-to-find labels. I began buying the few blues records I could find. And that eventually led me to meeting Bob Koester of Delmark Records. I started my career wanting to be Bob.

Why do you think that Alligator Records legacy continues to generate such a devoted following? How did you manage to create a dedicated community around your record label?

I think the quality of our artists is what has led to such loyal Alligator fans. I can’t play any instrument, but I know good blues musicianship when I hear it. And I can feel the honest emotions when an artist can sing with real blues feeling. (That doesn’t mean that every Alligator artist is a great singer, but their singing can move me, and I hope has that soul-healing quality that I look for.) Now, with over 350 titles in the Alligator catalog, I can proudly say that we have the largest contemporary blues catalog of any label. And because we commit ourselves to publicizing each artist’s career (not just their recordings), the artists know that we’re emotionally invested in their success.

“I would go back to Chicago of around 1955 to see and feel Chicago blues as it was being defined. Above all, I would love to hear Elmore James live. I also missed Little Walter and would want to visit Maxwell Street and hear the music played there. As this would be an ideal day, I’d also want to visit Chess and hear a Muddy Waters recording session. And if I had two days, I’d go to Mississippi around 1930, above all to hear Tommy Johnson. If I had three days, I’d want to see Guitar Slim live.” (Photo: Alligator Records logo, Bruce Iglauer is founder and CEO of legendary blues label)

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?

The first time I met Bob Koester at the Jazz Record Mart in either 1968 or 1969, and I imagined myself growing up and being like Bob. And then my first time going to the studio as ‘errand boy’ and seeing what a recording session was like (Delmark’s “Junior Wells’ Southside Blues Jam” with Buddy Guy, Otis Spann, Fred Below and Earnest Johnson) and I dreamed that I might become a producer. The best advice Bob Koester gave me was to “follow my gut,” and not try to figure out how much profit or loss I would make on a recording, but rather how the music made me feel.

What do you miss most nowadays from the blues of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I miss the neighborhood clubs in the Black community where many people came week after week to feel the blues. In a lot of cases, the audience was from the same area of the South as the musicians, and the clubs felt like their imported from Mississippi. I remember sometimes asking members of the crowd “where do you live?” They would often say “I live in Mississippi but I’m staying in Chicago.” I would ask how long they had been in Chicago and they’d often say, “Twenty years.” As far as they were concerned, the South was still “home” and they were in Chicago for a better job or a better place to live. Sometimes I’d be in a club where much of the audience was from Greenville or Clarksdale. The audiences were enjoying the ambience of being back down South with their old friends. They would holler for familiar songs or make requests. If the music moved them, they might scream or stand up and wave their arms like they were in church. These days, the audiences and the artists are more divided.

If you could change one thing in the blues musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

I would want to hear some of the strong voices of the new Black blues generation on Black-oriented radio (Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, D.K. Harrell, Stephen Hull, Jovin Webb, Sonny Gullage, Jontavious Willis, etc.). Having the blues re-adopted by the Black community (to set a course for the future of the blues with Black audiences) would be a huge breakthrough. I never expected a revival of blues with young Black artists. Even though many of them didn’t grow up in the “blues culture”, they have embraced the blues. They experience the blues differently because they are Black. Blues was created by Black people to fulfill the emotional needs of Black people. That is a great strength of the blues, and why, though created by one group of people, blues speaks so loudly even to those of us who discovered the blues when we were young adults, rather than first experiencing the blues in the cradle.

“Serious blues touches very deep emotions, and most of pop music is sentimental and encourages people to believe that love is here or just around the corner. Blues recognizes that love can be a struggle too. Most pop music is marketed to a youth audience. Blues is music for adults. So blues may never win a big popular audience. But it’s music that soothes the injured soul. If people heard blues more in popular media (radio, online, in movies and TV shows), it could grow a larger and more devoted audience.” (Bruce Iglauer / Photo © by Howard Greenblatt - Bruce Iglauer & Christone “Kingfish” Ingram / Photo © by Janet M. Takayama - Bruce Iglauer & Lonnie Brooks / Photo © by Chris Monaghan)

What has been the hardest obstacle for you to overcome as a person and as producer and has this helped you become a legendary label owner?

I realized very early that loving the blues (and loving Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers) wasn’t enough. There were lots of people starting labels in the early 1970s, most of whom failed. I was able to produce a classic record (because the band was already so good.) But I had to learn to be a businessman because it was the only way to assure that I could continue the label. I only had enough money to record and manufacture 1000 LPs. If I wanted Alligator to have a future, I had to learn the record business. I never wanted to be a businessman but now I spend 90% of my time doing business so I can spend 10% of my time immersed in the blues.

What moment changed your life the most? What do you think is key to a life well lived? Happines is....

Besides hearing Fred McDowell, I’d say the most important moments for my career were meeting Bob Koester (and wanted to grow up and become Bob Koester) and my first recording session (working for Bob) with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and Otis Spann, plus my first production in the studio with Hound Dog Taylor (co-produced with Wesley Race). In the rest of my life, my most important moment was the first time my future wife, Jo Kolanda, noticed me in a good way. I had 28 years of marriage, and besides having a big brain and a generous heart, she always understood she had to share me with Alligator.

What is the impact of the Blues on the socio-cultural implications (Human Rights, Civil Rights, Spiritual, Political)? How do you want the music to affect people? What is the role of Blues in today’s society?

In general, blues lyrics are more about personal issues than socio-cultural implications. However, blues were created by oppressed people who are still oppressed, generally have smaller incomes and savings than white America, live in humbler housing in less secure situations. So, Black life is less stable, and racism is still persistent (and growing again, or at least more clearly expressed. This situation oppresses the spirit, makes political issues harder to solve and solutions more difficult.

“Blues was created by Black people to fulfill the emotional needs of Black people. That is a great strength of the blues, and why, though created by one group of people, blues speaks so loudly even to those of us who discovered the blues when we were young adults, rather than first experiencing the blues in the cradle.” (Bruce Iglauer & Professor Longhair / Photo © by Michael Smith)

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

One thing I’ve had to accept is that a lot of musicians who can create great, charismatic music is that their emotions aren’t as much in control as “normal” people. This is because they must be ready to put honest emotion in their music, so their emotions can be close to the surface. I’ve tried hard to “give back” to the musicians, because their music has a healing quality that I need. So I help musicians with practical, day-to-day things like keeping their finances under control, keeping a working vehicle, and sometimes (if asked) with their taxes. They help me with soothing my soul.

Artists and labels will have to adapt to the new changes. What are your predictions for the music industry? How do you think the music industry will adapt to it?

I think musicians with little formal education who don’t make enough money to have knowledgeable managers or lawyers on retainer will struggle a lot. It’s very hard to keep up with the legal changes (for example, songs written by AI “artists”.) I find myself struggling to keep abreast with the legalities of the legal and copyright changes, and I have taken the time to attempt to learn everything I can about the music business. If I were a working musician, driving from gig to gig, this would be almost impossible.

From the musical and feeling point of view is there any difference between the old cats great bluesmen and the young blues musicians?

I’d divide today’s blues musicians into three groups—

--The “old guard” who grew up surrounded by blues and learned from previous generations. There are few left who first heard the blues when in the cradle, or from an old musician on a porch, or coming out of the walls of a juke joint. They understand without thining about it that the blues is a tradition that goes back to Africa, and is about expressing joy or soothing sorry (and who could be more sorrowful than those who were enslaved and are still victims of racism)?

--Then there are non-Black musicians who discovered the blues through rock or folk music, but who didn’t grow up in the blues culture. They can feel the blues but as a shared experience, or more intellectually. Also, non-Black blues musicians have a tendency to spend too much time showing off their instrumental technique rather than telling a story where the words and music tell the same story, or different aspects of the same story.

--And now there is a new generation of young Black blues musicians. Most of them didn’t grow up in the blues culture, but the music means something more to them because it grew from Black lives, both from suffering and joy. I am very excited because this group of musicians chose the blues. When I was younger and talked with younger Black people, almost all of them described the blues as “Grandpa’s music.” Now, for musicians like Kingfish, it is their proud heritage. I never though there would be a revival of blues among younger Black people. Part of my mission is to create opportunities for these musicians. 

“In general, blues lyrics are more about personal issues than socio-cultural implications. However, blues were created by oppressed people who are still oppressed, generally have smaller incomes and savings than white America, live in humbler housing in less secure situations. So, Black life is less stable, and racism is still persistent (and growing again, or at least more clearly expressed. This situation oppresses the spirit, makes political issues harder to solve and solutions more difficult.” (Bruce Iglauer, Hound Dog Taylor, Wes Race, Brewer Philips, B.B. Jones, Bob Simmons, and Ted Harvey. Iglauer started the label in 1971 to release an album from Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockers / Photo © by André Fanelli)

Life is more than just music, is there any other field that has influence on your life and music?

Not one field in particular. My parents were both extremely ethical people, and that has shaped Alligator as far as correctly accounting for and paying royalties, unlike some other labels. My parents (especially my father and his family) were all outspoken and public about their support for racial justice and equality. This goes back to before the American Civil War. The story in my family is that my great-great grandparents ran a station on the Underground Railroad. I can’t verify it, but my grandfather was named after a famous Abolitionist. I didn’t grow up around a lot of Black people but when I came to Chicago in 1970, I was ready to immerse myself in blues culture. At that time, all the blues in Chicago was in “the ghetto” (the all-Black parts of the city which were almost the only places Black people were able to rent an apartment or buy a house). I never had a problem with perceiving Black people as my equals, unlike many white people I knew. I remember the first time a Black person called me “nig___r”. I took it as a confirmation that I had been accepted as an equal, and I was very honored.

How can a band/musician truly turn the blues into a commercial and popular genre of music for the today's audience? Why is it important to we preserve and spread the blues?

I don’t know if the blues can be turned into a commercial and popular genre for today’s audience. Even though a lot of blues is joyful party and dance music, at the core of blues is struggle—against racism, against poverty, against being a Black “second class citizen.” Serious blues touches very deep emotions, and most of pop music is sentimental and encourages people to believe that love is here or just around the corner. Blues recognizes that love can be a struggle too. Most pop music is marketed to a youth audience. Blues is music for adults. So blues may never win a big popular audience. But it’s music that soothes the injured soul. If people heard blues more in popular media (radio, online, in movies and TV shows), it could grow a larger and more devoted audience.

“My dream project would be to record musicians who are no longer here on earth. I would love to have produced Elmore James, Sonny Boy II, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, and so many more.  My future goal (as I said) to bring forward the careers of the next generation of bluesmen and women. Many of them are very talented. I think it’s possible they will insure the future of the blues for many years.” (Bruce Iglauer & Koko Taylor / Photo © by Marc Norberg)

Many Jewish musicians and music industry people started and connected with the Blues? What and why were the causes of connection with the Blues? Do you find any similarities between the Jewish Culture/History and the Blues?

Yes, to some extent. As oppressed minority groups, Jews and Blacks always had a bond. Jews were oppressed in Europe and before that in Egypt and Babylon. Blacks were horribly oppressed by slavery and racism in the USA (and continue to be). We all saw the parallels in our situations. In fact, Blacks and Jews started the NAACP together in 1909. I remember Harry “Snapper” Mitchum saying to me “the only difference between Blacks and Jews is that you were slaves before we were.”

Also, in the USA, Jews were barred (until the late 1950s) from executive jobs at most major corporations. One area that was open to Jews was entertainment, both as entertainers and executives. That’s one reason that, historically, Jewish executives dominated the movie industry…that was one door open to Jews. But another door that was open was the music industry, especially independent labels. When Jews came to the USA, especially the Eastern European Jews who came in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they often lived next to Blacks, because both were at the bottom of the social scale, and considered less than 100% American. In Chicago, the West Side was primarily Jewish before the Black population outgrew the South Side and real estate interests allowed them to rent apartments on the West Side. So, Jews and Blacks often lived in the same neighborhoods, like the Chess brothers originally did. I personally had no idea Jews were so involved in the music industry, since I was tutored by Bob Koester, a Catholic of German heritage. I didn’t feel a strong bond with other Jews (I’m not religious at all), but I had a hard time fitting in with other kids, partly because of (mild) anti-Semitism. I was lonely, and I felt a real bond with the loneliness of Black people in America. But the music worked on me first, not the sociology. I felt the blues before I understood anything about how the blues came to be.

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really want to go for a whole day? 

I would go back to Chicago of around 1955 to see and feel Chicago blues as it was being defined. Above all, I would love to hear Elmore James live. I also missed Little Walter and would want to visit Maxwell Street and hear the music played there. As this would be an ideal day, I’d also want to visit Chess and hear a Muddy Waters recording session. And if I had two days, I’d go to Mississippi around 1930, above all to hear Tommy Johnson. If I had three days, I’d want to see Guitar Slim live.

“My parents were both extremely ethical people, and that has shaped Alligator as far as correctly accounting for and paying royalties, unlike some other labels. My parents (especially my father and his family) were all outspoken and public about their support for racial justice and equality. This goes back to before the American Civil War. The story in my family is that my great-great grandparents ran a station on the Underground Railroad. I can’t verify it, but my grandfather was named after a famous Abolitionist.” (Bruce Iglauer with Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials / Photo © by Marilyn Stringer)

You have a very interesting and informative book “Bitten by the Blues”. What was the most difficult part that you thought if you would have to tell? And what was the funniest incident that you will never forget?

It’s very hard for me to tell the story of the 1978 train wreck with the Son Seals band in Norway. I was never more scared, and the image that keeps coming back to me is Tony Gooden, our drummer, spurting blood from his injured arm. He never played again.

The funniest story was the recording session where Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials recorded their debut album, Roughhousin’, ‘in three hours, the time we scheduled to record two songs for an anthology called The New Bluebloods. Now forty years later, Ed and I just produced his 11th Alligator album, which will be released at the end of February. It’s called Slideways and I think it is his best album yet.

Do you have a dream project you'd most like to accomplish? What keeps a person passionate with the Blues after six decades?

My dream project would be to record musicians who are no longer here on earth. I would love to have produced Elmore James, Sonny Boy II, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, and so many more. My future goal (as I said) to bring forward the careers of the next generation of bluesmen and women. Many of them are very talented. I think it’s possible they will insure the future of the blues for many years.

If you (Bruce) had a question you would like to ask the founder of Alligator Records (Mr. Bruce Iglauer) what would it be?

How did you manage to form your insanity into a career? It seems impossible.

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(Photo: Bruce Iglauer & Albert Collins / Courtesy of Alligator Records)