Texas Cannonball: The Freddie King Story

 Guitarist Freddie King rose to fame in the 60's with a string of brilliant instrumentals that were widely influential in both blues and rock circles. Despite his premature death in 1976 his impact can still be heard in the music of countless blues and rock artists.

 Freddie King (originally billed as "Freddy" at the beginning of his career) was born September 3, 1934, in Gilmer, Texas. He learned to play guitar as a child from his mother and an uncle named Leon King. He initially played in a rural acoustic style similar to Lightnin' Hopkins. In 1950, when he was sixteen, he moved with his mother to Chicago. He begin hitting the clubs, listening to bluesman like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr., Little Walter and Eddie Taylor. He soon formed his own band, the Every Hour Blues Boys. As King said, "working in Chicago, that's where I first started playing in a band, but I been playing guitar since I was six. But I picked up the style between Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters, and B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. That's in-between style, that's the way I play, see. So I play country and city."

In the mid-50's King began playing on sessions for Parrot and Chess Records as well as playing with Earlee Payton's Blues Cats and the Little Sonny Cooper Band. He supposedly first appeared on record on unissued sides for the Parrot label. King cut his his first single in 1957 for the small El-Bee label ("Country Boy"/"That's What You Think") but it failed to gain much attention. He began gigging frequently and in 1958 quit is day job at a mill, making ends meet with the money he was making playing the clubs on Chicago's South and West sides.

 In 1960 he signed with the Federal label a subsidiary of King Records. This came about when Syl Johnson introduced King to King-Federal A&R man Sonny Thompson. As Freddie said, "now Sonny Thompson was the one who put me on King Records I was playing at Mel's Hideaway Lounge, on Roosevelt and Loomis (it's torn down now), in 1960 and Sonny came to hear me and asked me to record, We called my first instrumental tune "Hideaway." In August 1960 he cut his first single for the label, "You've Got To Love Her With A Feeling" which became a minor hit, hitting the bottom of the pop charts in 1961. Following this song King cut "Hide Away" which would become his signature song and his most influential. The song was was adapted from a Hound Dg Taylor instrumental named after the aforementioned Mel's Hideaway Lounge. The single was released as the B-side of "I Love That Woman" (his singles featured a vocal A-side and a instrumental B-side) in the fall of 1961 and became a major hit, reaching number five on the R&B charts and number 29 on the pop charts. "Hide Away" proved so popular that every up and coming bluesman was expected to have it in his repertoire.

 King cranked out some of his best and most influential 45's during this period including sizzling instrumentals like "San-Ho-Zay" (#4 R&B/#47 Pop), "The Stumble" plus vocal performances like "I'm Tore Down" (#5 R&B), "Lonesome Whistle Blues" (#4 R&B/#88 Pop), "Christmas Tears" (#26 R&B), "She Put The Whammy Me", "When The Welfare Turns It's Back On You" and many others. Many of these have become blues classics covered by Magic Sam, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dave Edmunds, Peter Green and many others. King also cut full length albums starting in 1961 with Freddy King Sings followed by the instrumental albums Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King and Freddy King Gives You a Bonanza of Instrumentasl. King toured extensively during the early 60's and in 1963 moved to Dallas. He stayed with the King-Federal label until 1966.

 In late 1968 King signed with Atlantic and cut two albums for their Cotillion subsidiary. He released Freddie King Is A Blues Master in 1969 followed by My Feeling For The Blues in 1970 both of which were produced by King Curtis. King was less than happy with these records and soon parted ways with the label.

 In late 1971 King signed with Leon Russell's Shelter label which yielded three albums: Getting Ready, Texas Cannonball and Woman Across the River. All of the records sold well and his concerts became increasingly popular among rock audiences. He was among the first performers to work the Fillmore, playing there first in 1971 on a bill that included Albert King and Mott the Hoople. In 1974 he signed on with RSO Records (also Eric Clapton's label) releasing Burglar in 1974, which was produced and recorded with Clapton, and Larger Than Life in 1976. During this period King toured America, Europe and Australia.

 Throughout 1976, King toured America even though his health was starting to decline. As Tim Schuller wrote in his obituary: "Nobody expected to be writing obituaries for Freddie King yet. He looked too big and too strong to be anywhere near death, but on December 28, 1976, heart failure, a blood clot, and internal bleeding caused his death at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas." He was 42 years old.

Essential Listening/Viewing

The Federal Recordings: There's no shortage of collections of Freddie King's prime Federal recordings. The most comprehensive is Collectable's "The Very Best Of Freddy King Vol. 1-3" which collects everything King cut for Federal between 1960-1966. Ace's "Guitar Hero Vol. 1-2" is another fine set. The Modern blues label issued the 24 track "Just Pickin'" which collects both of King's all-instrumental albums for the King label ("Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King" and "Freddy King Gives You a Bonanza of Instrumentals") on one tremendous disc.

Hide Away: The Best Of Freddy King (Rhino): Indispensable one disc, 20-cut anthology spanning his entire career. Includes his very first single "Country Boy", Federal classics like "Have You Ever Loved a Woman ", "I'm Tore Down", "The Stumble" plus 70's gems like "Going Down" and "Palace Of The King."

The Best Of The Shelter Years (The Right Stuff): King's Shelter years were covered completely on EMI's 2-CD "King of the Blues", which had everything from all three of his Shelter albums and then some. Although all of the 18 songs on this single-disc anthology were on "King of the Blues", this is a more manageable survey of the same era which wasn't King's best period. There's some fine material here including "Going Down," "Lowdown in Lodi," "Palace Of The King", "Woman Across the River" and several other gems.

Burglar (RSO): One of King's best but often overlooked records of the 70's. Produced in part by Mike Vernon this is an strong set of ten songs performed by King and a slew of guests including Eric Clapton and a fine horn section. Notable numbers include "Texas Flyer", the sizzling instrumental "Pulpwood" and "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)."

Live Recordings: There's numerous live Freddie King recordings floating around with a few very good ones. Among the better ones are "Live In Germany", "Texas and Oklahoma Club Dates 75", "Live At The Electric Ballroom 74'" and "Live At The Texas Opry House" which was apparently King's last recording and shows him still in great form.

Video: There's a number of Freddie King videos that are worth while with he best being "The!!!! Beat." In 1966 a Black music variety show called The!!!! Beat ran for 26 segments and was shown in about a dozen major cities in the U.S. where there was a large blues and soul market. Freddie became a regular guest, making several appearances. The 14 great tunes including "Funny Bone", "Sitting On A Boat Dock", "She Put The Whammy On Me", "San-Ho-Zay" plus 3 tunes recorded in 1973 at a concert in Sweden. Other good video of King includes "Live In Europe" shot during three European concerts in 1973 and 1974, "Freddie King: Live at the Sugarbowl" shot at the Sugarbowl in South Carolina in 1972 and "Live In Dallas" performed at a TV studio in Dallas in 1973.