Louis X. Erlanger
Encyclopedia
Louis X. Erlanger is an American
is a rock and roll
and blues
guitarist
best known for his work with the band Mink DeVille
. Erlanger recorded three albums with the band: Cabretta
(1977), Return to Magenta
(1978), and Le Chat Bleu
(1980). He also appeared on Live at CBGB's (1976), an album of bands that pioneered punk rock
at the venerable nightclub CBGB
in the mid-1970s.
Erlanger's first instrument was the piano, but he switched to guitar after hearing recordings by Jimmy Reed
. In the summer of 1968, at the age of sixteen, he got a chance to back up John Lee Hooker
at the Cafe Au Go Go
in Greenwich Village
(Hooker shared the bill with a young Van Morrison
and the group Rhinoceros
). Village Voice critic Annie Fisher described Hooker's performance as "awesome"; it was a turning point for Erlanger, who decided to become a professional musician. He formed a group called the Sting Rays, which had some success with an EP produced by a young Phil Schaap
.
After leaving Mink DeVille, Erlanger returned to his first love, the blues, and worked with the likes of R. L. Burnside
, Otis Rush
, Pinetop Perkins
, Hubert Sumlin
, Big Jay McNeeley, and others. His Seattle-based group The Slamhound Hunters had a regional hit on the West Coast and toured Europe.
Erlanger produced two R.L. Burnside albums: Acoustic Stories (1997) and Well, Well, Well... (2001). Acoustic Stories was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award in 1998. Erlanger co-produced Down In The Delta with Muddy Waters
Blues Band alumnus Paul Oscher
, for which Oscher won an Acoustic Artist of the Year award and an Acoustic Album of the Year award at the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Erlanger also produced recordings by Ruth Brown
bandleader and jazz organist Bobby Forrester, and jazz guitarist William Ash. Erlanger appears on the Robert Palmer
-produced Fat Possum Records
album by CeDell Davis
entitled Feel Like Doin' Something Wrong (1994).
Two Erlanger songs appear on the soundtrack of the 1985 movie The Revenge of the Teenage Vixens from Outer Space.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
best known for his work with the band Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille was a rock band known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York’s CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985. Except for frontman Willy DeVille, the original members of the band played...
. Erlanger recorded three albums with the band: Cabretta
Cabretta
Cabretta, known as Mink DeVille in the United States, was the 1977 debut album by Mink DeVille. It peaked at number 186 on the Billboard 200 chart and was voted the 29th best album of 1977 in the Village Voices Pazz & Jop critics' poll...
(1977), Return to Magenta
Return to Magenta
Return to Magenta, issued in 1978, is the second album by the rock band Mink DeVille. The album was the last to feature all the original members of the band. For this album, the band was joined by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Steve Douglas on sax and, on piano, Dr...
(1978), and Le Chat Bleu
Le Chat Bleu
Le Chat Bleu, released in 1980, is the third album by the rock band Mink DeVille. The album received critical acclaim and elevated lead singer and composer Willy DeVille to star status. The Rolling Stone Critic’s Poll ranked Le Chat Bleu the fifth best album of 1980, andmusic historian Glenn A...
(1980). He also appeared on Live at CBGB's (1976), an album of bands that pioneered punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
at the venerable nightclub CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
in the mid-1970s.
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...
. In the summer of 1968, at the age of sixteen, he got a chance to back up John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
at the Cafe Au Go Go
Cafe Au Go Go
The Cafe au Go Go was a Greenwich Village night club located in the basement of 152 Bleecker Street. The club featured many well known musical groups, folksingers and comedy acts between the opening in February 1964 until closing in October 1969. Originally owned by Howard Solomon who sold the club...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
(Hooker shared the bill with a young Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
and the group Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros (band)
Rhinoceros was a rock band established in 1967 by Elektra Records as that label's intended supergroup. The band, while well respected in many circles, did not live up to the record label's expectations...
). Village Voice critic Annie Fisher described Hooker's performance as "awesome"; it was a turning point for Erlanger, who decided to become a professional musician. He formed a group called the Sting Rays, which had some success with an EP produced by a young Phil Schaap
Phil Schaap
Phil Schaap is an American jazz disc jockey, historian, archivist and producer. He hosts a daily morning radio program on 89.9 FM New York, WKCR, the radio station of Columbia University, his alma mater, in New York City. The show, called Bird Flight, is broadcast from 8:20 am–9:30 am on weekdays...
.
After leaving Mink DeVille, Erlanger returned to his first love, the blues, and worked with the likes of R. L. Burnside
R. L. Burnside
Not to be confused with R. H. Burnside, stage director.R. L. Burnside , born Robert Lee Burnside, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention...
, Otis Rush
Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
, Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins
Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music...
, Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...
, Big Jay McNeeley, and others. His Seattle-based group The Slamhound Hunters had a regional hit on the West Coast and toured Europe.
Erlanger produced two R.L. Burnside albums: Acoustic Stories (1997) and Well, Well, Well... (2001). Acoustic Stories was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award in 1998. Erlanger co-produced Down In The Delta with Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
Blues Band alumnus Paul Oscher
Paul Oscher
Paul Oscher is an American blues singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.-Background:Oscher was born in Brooklyn, New York...
, for which Oscher won an Acoustic Artist of the Year award and an Acoustic Album of the Year award at the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Erlanger also produced recordings by Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown was an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and actress, noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and " He Treats Your Daughter Mean".For these...
bandleader and jazz organist Bobby Forrester, and jazz guitarist William Ash. Erlanger appears on the Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer (author/producer)
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was a 20th century American writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, and blues producer...
-produced Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording hitherto unknown Mississippi blues artists . Recently, Fat Possum has signed younger rock acts to its roster...
album by CeDell Davis
CeDell Davis
CeDell Davis is an American blues guitarist and singer.Davis is most notable for his distinctive style of guitar playing. Davis plays guitar using a table knife in his fretting hand in a manner similar to slide guitar, resulting in a welter of metal-stress harmonic transients and a singular tonal...
entitled Feel Like Doin' Something Wrong (1994).
Two Erlanger songs appear on the soundtrack of the 1985 movie The Revenge of the Teenage Vixens from Outer Space.