The four tracks that follow "My People's Gone" are during Wolf's early sixties peak, with three of those tracks penned by the Cole Porter of the blues, Willie Dixon. While these tunes are less familiar than, say "Wang Dang Doodle" or "Spoonful", "Long Green Stuff" and "Mama's Baby" were Dixon's chaff that still exceeded most other blues composers' wheat. And it didn't matter anyway when Hubert Sumlin, a boy that Wolf took under his wing at just 14 years old in the late forties, had by then blossomed into one of the most formidable electric guitarists on the Chicago blues scene. His slinky lines on these and other Wolf sides have been copied and recycled endlessly over the decades, most notably by Robert Cray.

Even if the quality of material started to fall off a tad in the next five tracks representing the mid to late sixties, Sumlin's guitar combined with Wolf's still-potent vocals could be counted on to save the day, like on the otherwise humdrum "I Had A Dream". "The Big House" is almost a dead ringer for Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" until Hubert cuts loose with a Keith Richards sound-alike solo... except that it's been Keith who was imitating Hubert all along.

The last five tracks are 1968 recordings of Wolf alone with just an acoustic guitar stamping out the rhythm, with some casual talk about his musical roots mixed in. Since he had been performing as a musician at least part time since the early 30's but hadn't started recording until some twenty years later, this is a rare glimpse to what Wolf in his formative years might have sounded like. "Woke Up This Morning" is the best of this short batch, and here he displays the still-nimble acoustic guitar picking he learned first hand from such Delta luminaries as Charley Patton.

After making the decision to hype this record I found out that I was lucky to have found it at the record store some 10 years ago; it's currently out of print and only available as an import (or, of course, used). It's still very much a record to seek out for anyone wanting a solid bedrock in their blues record collection. You still want to start your Howlin' Wolf collection with the Chess box set, but Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog is the logical follow up acquisition. In the meantime, here are a cross section of tracks with which to whet your appetite:

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "Look-A-Here Baby"

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "Oh Red"

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "Midnight Blues"

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "Tail Dragger(alternate take)"

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "I Had A Dream"

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "The Big House"

Listen: Howlin' Wolf "Woke Up This Morning"

Note: Linked tracks are low quality rips available for only about a week.