Robert Hunter - 1973-4 - roadhog (unreleased album)


ROBERT HUNTER
Roadhog [no label, 1CD]
Taperchuck’s copy from 1973-74. An unreleased album. Excellent soundboard stereo.

While the Grateful Dead spun psychedelic webs of anthems to the sun and dark stars, their lyricist Robert Hunter was interested in how to keep a barroom crowd content. His tools were his lyrics, melodies and a band that could play folk and country. So in 1974, when Hunter’s debut solo album arrived on the Grateful Dead’s Round Records label, many missed the opportunity to pick up on it. It had flown under the rader. Hunter only borrowed Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart and the Godchaux’s from the Dead. Tales Of The Great Rum Runners was an unassuming album bolstered by Hunter’s everyday vocals, filled with the Americana style first introduced by The Band’s brown album and songs that were down to earth.

Just recently, we learnt that there was an earlier attempt at an album by Hunter called Roadhogs. This was shared by Rob Berger at Losslesslegs. Six of the songs on Roadhog would later be recorded again for Tales of The Great Rum Runners. The rest were considered “lost”, till now. After trawling the net, we also found that in 1976 Hunter played gigs with a band he formed also called Roadhog. (Click here.)

The mixture of sweet ballads, mid-tempo tunes and rock ‘n’ roll howlers probably kept this one on the shelf. Two of the tunes had an unidentified female singer. According to Berger, Rodney Albin shared some of the vocals with Hunter. Otherwise not much else is known about the personnel of this recording or how it all came about.

One song stands head and shoulders above all else, Roadhog. A tough rocker with some sterling solos. According to the notes from deaddisc.com about Hunter’s book, A Box Of Rain: Lyrics 1965-1993, “There are no recordings of this song”. We can only guess it must be the after-effects of LSD.

I’m a prostrate batter
I’m a number-five hatter
I’m a smooth-line chatter
I’m a roadhog
I’m an up-and-comer
I’m a flat-out bummer
I’m a toll-gate jumper
I’m a roadhog
yeah…
I’m a roadhog

If any knowledgeable fan has more information, please share with the community. A big thanks to Rob Berger for bringing this recording to fans.

Track 01. Boys In The Barroom # (1.8MB)
Track 02. Reelin’ And A-Pitchin’ * (5.8MB)
Track 03. Praise His Name (3.0MB)
Track 04. Elijah (3.2MB)
Track 05. Rum Runners # (4.9MB)
Track 06. It Must’ve Been The Roses # @ (5.6MB)
Track 07. Roadhog (4.4MB)
Track 08. On Our Way Back Home (4.7MB)
Track 09. Children’s Lament # (6.8MB)
Track 10. Lady Simplicity # (561k)
Track 11. Southern Fried Shuffle (3.8MB)
Track 12. Ballad Of Buddy Holly @ (3.9MB)
Track 13. Who’ll Be Left To Sing This Song (3.2MB)
Track 14. Wondering (3.7MB)
Track 15. Keys To The Rain # (6.7MB)
(39:04m)