Bruce Iglauer (Alligator Records Founder and President) Talks New Koko Taylor vinyl LP ‘Crown Jewels’

On 18th July 2025, Alligator Records will release the vinyl LP, ‘Crown Jewels’, the best of the best from the legendary Queen Of The Blues, Koko Taylor. Alligator Records founder and president Bruce Iglauer kindly took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about the release:

On July 18, Alligator Records will release the vinyl LP, Crown Jewels, the best of the best from the legendary Queen Of The Blues, Koko Taylor. When did you first have the idea to release the best of?

Obviously, Koko’s records are a vital part of our catalog. However, she passed away before the resurgence of vinyl. We wanted to reach some of those new, young vinyl fans who might not be familiar with Koko. So, we started planning this album about a year ago.

Was it difficult picking which tracks would be included? Did you have a specific song selection process?

I did the final selection, with input from the Alligator staff. We worked with Koko for 35 years, as both her label and her management. Koko welcomed us into her home, and we all knew some of her favorite recordings, and we knew her live show very well. I picked some of her original songs she was proudest of, like “I’m A Woman,” “Can’t Let Go,” “Voodoo Woman” and “Ernestine,” as well as songs she sang at every concert, like “Let The Good Times Roll,” and “I’d Rather Go Blind” and “Come To Mama.” We actually had many more possible songs that we had to leave off because of how much music you can fit on an LP.

In your own words, do you have any memories or stories of working with Koko Taylor that you would like to share please?

Koko was raised in the South on a sharecropper’s farm in Tennessee. She had to drop out of school in 3rd grade so that she could take care of the smaller children of her neighbors while they worked hard labor in the fields. She sang for fun but never expected a career in music. She came north to Chicago in the early 1950s with her future husband, carrying (as she said) only “35 cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.” She went to work as a laundress and then as a housemaid. As she said, “I spent hours on my knees and I wasn’t praying. I was scrubbing the rich folks’ floors.” She had one big hit on black-oriented radio in the 1960s, with “Wang Dang Doodle” on the Chess label. But by the time we met, around 1972, Chess had been sold and she was back to being a housemaid. Her career blossomed in the 1970s and 80s, (when she had joined Alligator) and she continued to headline festivals right up to her death in 2009. Her hard life took a toll on her health, and, although she never drank, she developed gout in her feet. I remember a concert in Spain around 1995 when her feet were so painful she could hardly walk. We took her to the side of the stage in a wheelchair, out of sight of the audience. When the music started, she got up out of the chair, danced across the stage, did her entire show smiling and looking happy, then danced offstage and sat down in the wheelchair and started crying because she was in so much pain. But as far as the audience was concerned, she was the charismatic, energized Queen Of The Blues. She always gave 110% for her fans.

Feature Image Photo Credit: Marc Norberg

‘Crown Jewels’, the best of the best from the legendary Queen Of The Blues, Koko Taylor will be released on 18th July 2025 in vinyl LP and download formats (not CD). 

Pre-order here: https://www.alligator.com/albums/Crown-Jewels-Vinyl-LP/