Little Freddie King (born Fread Eugene Martin, July 19, 1940) is an American Delta blues guitarist. Despite the name, his style is not based on that of

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Most ...

, but is more influenced by John Lee Hooker and his approach to

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930 ...

is original.

Biography

King, a cousin of

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list ...

, was born in

McComb, Mississippi McComb is a city in Pike County, Mississippi, United States. The city is approximately south of Jackson. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 12,790. It is the principal city of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statist ...

, and learned to play the guitar from his father. In 1954, at the age of 14, he moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. He performed in

juke joint Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. A juke joint ...

s with his friends

Babe Stovall Jewell Stovall, better known as Babe Stovall (October 14, 1907 – September 21, 1974), was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist. Stovall was born in Tylertown, Mississippi, United States, in 1907, the youngest of eleven children ( ...

Slim Harpo Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spiri ...

, and

Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree (July 23, 1909 or July 4, 1910 – January 21, 1992) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer. Biography Dupree was a New Orleans ...

, playing both acoustic and

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

. He recorded the first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

in New Orleans with Harmonica Williams in 1969. In 1976, King undertook a European

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

with

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...

and John Lee Hooker. His next recording opportunity came in 1996, twenty-seven years after his first, with the release of ''Swamp Boogie''. King's ''Sing Sang Sung'' (2000) was recorded live at the Dream Palace in

Faubourg Marigny The Faubourg Marigny ( ; sometimes called The Marigny) is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Its boundaries, as defined by the City Planning Commission, are North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue to the ...

. King is a charter member of the

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New ...

and has played at the festival for 42 years. He is a member of the

Louisiana Music Hall of Fame The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the state ...

. He was selected three times as Blues Performer of the Year in New Orleans. He was honored with a

Mississippi Blues Trail The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues throughout (and in some cases beyond) ...

marker in

. In 2007, King co-contributed to the Alabama Slim album, ''The Mighty Flood''. His 2012 album, ''Chasing tha Blues'', won Best Blues Album at the 12th Annual Independent Music Awards. He appeared in the 2015 documentary film '' I Am the Blues'' and the excellent Midnight In The Crescent City documentary by Ben Chace. King's most recent album, ''Jaw Jackin' Blues'', was released in 2020.

Discography

*''Harmonica Williams and Little Freddie King'' (1969), Ahura Mazda Records *''Swamp Boogie'' (1996), Orleans Records *''Sing Sang Sung'' ( live album) (2000), Orleans Records *''FQF Live'' (2003), WWOZ (Library of Congress Recording) *''You Don't Know What I Know'' (2005),

Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...

*''Messin' Around tha House'' (2008), Made Wright Records *''Gotta Walk with Da King'' (2010), Made Wright Records *''Jazzfest Live'' (2011), MunckMix, Inc. *''Back in Vinyl, LP'' (2011), APO Records *''Chasing tha Blues'' (2012), Made Wright Records *''Messin' Around tha Living Room'' (2015), Made Wright Records *''Fried Rice & Chicken'' (2018), Orleans Records *''Queen and Slim: The Soundtrack'' (2019), Motown Records *''Goin Upstairs: (2022), Nevelle Records, N.Y. *''Jaw Jackin' Blues'' (2020), Made Wright Records *''Blues Medicine''(2022), Made Wright Records

References

External links

Official websiteThe Gutbucket King
multimedia profile of King by Barry Yeoman, published in The New New South.
Videos and photograph at NME.com
*
Little Freddie King Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (March 19, 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Little Freddie 1940 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers Delta blues musicians Electric blues musicians Fat Possum Records artists Singers from Mississippi People from McComb, Mississippi Blues musicians from Mississippi Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians