[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 222 (Thursday, December 30, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1401]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING 50 YEARS OF ALLIGATOR RECORDS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 30, 2021

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise today along with my colleagues, 
Congressman Chuy Garcia, Congressman Casten, Congressman 
Krishnamoorthi, Congressman Kinzinger, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, 
Congressman Schneider, Congresswoman Bustos, Congressman Rush, 
Congresswoman Marie Newman, Congressman Bill Foster, Congresswoman 
Underwood, and Congressman Quigley, to honor the 50th anniversary of 
Alligator Records.
   Chicago blues music has its roots deep in the Mississippi Delta and 
was carried north in the Great Migration of 1916 through 1970 by the 
millions of African Americans who migrated to northern industrial 
cities in search of good jobs and to escape from Jim Crow racism.
   Chicago's blues community nurtured thousands of musicians and dozens 
of record labels, and the city became the world capital of blues and 
eventually gave birth to Alligator Records and the rich, soulful 
Chicago blues heritage and culture that we know and love today.
   With nothing but his love of the blues and entrepreneurial spirit, 
Bruce Iglauer founded Alligator Records in 1971 at the age of 23, using 
all his savings to record his favorite Chicago blues band, Hound Dog 
Taylor and the HouseRockers, although the band had no national 
presence, no booking agent, no manager, no publicist, and played almost 
entirely in tiny neighborhood clubs on the South and West Sides of 
Chicago.
   Beginning with this one album, Iglauer built a blues record label 
that is now celebrating its 50th birthday.
   Today, Alligator Records is the largest independent blues label in 
the world, with over 350 albums and an artist roster that ranges in age 
from 22 to 78, and has won three Grammy Awards and an astonishing 48 
nominations, as well as over 150 Blues Music Awards and over 115 Living 
Blues Awards.
   Alligator Records has been a driving force in support of Chicago 
blues and blues music worldwide, and a glowing example of our country's 
rich tradition of musical and entrepreneurial spirit. Now, my 
colleagues in the House of Representatives and I honor Alligator 
Records on 50 years of business and celebrates the American cultural 
legacy of Chicago blues music.
   Together we urge the United States Government to take all necessary 
steps to preserve and advance the art form of Chicago blues music; 
recommit itself to ensuring that recording labels like Alligator 
Records and their artists receive fair protection under the copyright 
laws of the United States for their contributions to culture in the 
United States; and reaffirm the status of Chicago blues as a unique 
national treasure.