After nearly 40 years, Charleston’s Blue Dogs are still rockin’
The night before our interview, Bobby Houck, the lead singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist for the veteran Charleston rockers the Blue Dogs, led his band onstage for a birthday gig. But instead of playing golden oldies or a round of “Happy Birthday,” the Blue Dogs played a joyful concert for around 300 people, playing their own popular chestnuts like the affecting mid-tempo rocker “Hope She Falls In Love,” the sparkling, mandolin-spiked “Waiter,” and the soulful, Hammond organ-driven “Isabel.”
The crowd was mostly made up of the band’s friends and family, meaning that, as Houck jokingly puts it, the band is still playing for the same people they were when the Blue Dogs formed way back in 1987.
“It was a 60th birthday party for a bunch of friends of ours outside of Columbia,” Houck says. “And we probably knew 90 percent of them because we grew up with them. So here we are, still playing for the same crowd that really allowed us to be musicians and create a band in the first place.”
And the fact is that Houck and his longtime bandmate, bassist Hank Futch, are doing exactly what they want to do with the Blue Dogs these days, whether that’s a new album (Big Dreamers, which features guest appearances from dobro master Jerry Douglas and ace country songwriter Radney Foster), select tour appearances (including a show at the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre on January 25) and the occasional songwriting session.
Houck and Futch, who augment the lineup with additional musicians when they tour and record, have earned the right to revive and retire the Blue Dogs whenever they like. Not only did they start the band together, but they were also playing music together for years beforehand.
“Hank and I were both were raised in Florence, South Carolina,” Houck says. “We were in the same Cub Scout troop when we were eight years old. We reconnected during our junior year of high school, and we both played guitar, so Hank and I became the entertainment at parties.”
Forming the Blue Dogs
The pair officially formed the Blue Dogs in 1987, bringing on three additional musicians and launching their career. After a few years establishing themselves around Charleston with an infectious acoustic-electric sound that worked a bit of country twang into their melodic rock, the band didn’t actually go full time until 1996, during a feverish time for the South Carolina music scene.
Artists like Hootie & The Blowfish and Edwin McCain, both from the Palmetto State, sold millions of albums in the mid-1990s, and national record labels sniffed around other local bands like Cravin’ Melon and the Blue Dogs. The band toured relentlessly and recorded as much as they could until around 2006, but eventually, real life caught up with the Dogs. “By 2009, I’m married and I have my first child,” Houck says. “In 2011, I had my second child, and by then Hank had two children.”
The band’s priorities had to change, but ironically enough, making the Blue Dogs a part-time proposition might be what saved Houck and Futch’s group, keeping them together when burnout caught up with other acts from the era like Jump, Little Children, and Cravin’ Melon.
“It’s just different when you’re in that grind of doing it full time,” Houck says. “Keeping the band together when we’re not full time is actually a lot easier, partially because of our good friendship, but mainly because we just like doing it. And everybody likes making a little bit of money. I tell people all the time, it’s like a weekend golf game now, except we make money instead of losing it.”
Houck says the band is looking forward to bringing that “weekend golf game” to Greenville in January. “We need to play Greenville more often,” he says. “We’re hoping to have a good crowd and we’re looking forward to having a great time with our friends in the Upstate.”
You Can Go
Blue Dogs at Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre
Saturday, January 25 at 7:30p.m.
Tickets: $40 at peacenter.org
