Dennis Edward Freeman (August 7, 1944 – April 25, 2021) was an American

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

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 ...

guitarist. Although he is primarily known as a guitar player, Freeman also played piano and electronic organ, both in concert and on various recordings. He worked with

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Angela Strehli Angela Strehli (born November 22, 1945) is an American electric blues singer and songwriter. She is also a Texas blues historian and impresario. Despite a sporadic recording career, Strehli spends time each year performing in Europe, the US an ...

, Lou Ann Barton,

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, ...

Barry Goldberg Barry Joseph Goldberg (born December 25, 1942) is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's ve ...

and

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 196 ...

amongst others.

Early life

Freeman was born in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, on August 7, 1944. He spent his adolescence in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, Texas, in the late 1950s and played in a rock group called The Corals while in high school. He went to college in

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

, and had a brief stay in Los Angeles, before relocating in 1970 to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Career

Freeman started his career as co-lead guitarist in the Cobras with Stevie Ray Vaughan. He became a founding member of Southern Feeling in 1972, along with W. C. Clark and

. He later recorded with Lou Ann Barton. Freeman lived and played with both Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He played piano on Jimmie Vaughan's first solo tour, and on a

album. At Antone's

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gen ...

in the early 1980s, Freeman was a member of the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

and backed

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s art ...

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaugh ...

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

, and

Lazy Lester Leslie Johnson (June 20, 1933 – August 22, 2018), better known as Lazy Lester, was an American blues musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered swamp blues, and also played h ...

. After touring with Jimmie Vaughan in the mid 1990s he toured with Taj Mahal until 2002. A songwriter on his five mainly

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

albums, Freeman lived again in Los Angeles from 1992 until 2004. Freeman played with

's backing band between 2005 and 2009. Dylan's album, '' Modern Times'' was recorded with Dylan's then touring band, including Freeman, Tony Garnier, George G. Receli, Stu Kimball, plus multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron. During a 2006 interview with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', Dylan spoke about his current band: Denny_Freeman_-_AMA_Hall_of_Fame_2010_-_Ron_Baker

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

played the drums on Freeman's solo offering, ''Twang Bang'' (2006).

Later life

Freeman was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2009. Freeman died on April 25, 2021, in

. He was 76, and was diagnosed with abdominal cancer several weeks before his death.

Credits

*Freeman co-wrote "Baboom/Mama Said" on The Vaughan Brothers' 1990 album, ''

Family Style Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...

'' *He played piano on

's 1994 album, ''Strange Pleasure'', and organ on his 1998 follow-up, ''Out There''. *He co-wrote "Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room" on Blondie's 1999 ''

No Exit ''No Exit'' (french: Huis clos, links=no, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting ...

'' album. *Freeman played guitar on

and the Phantom Blues Band's

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

winning live album, ''

Shoutin' in Key ''Shoutin' in Key'' is a live album by American blues artist Taj Mahal. Track listing # "Honky Tonk" ( Billy Butler, Bill Doggett, Clifford Scott, Shep Shepherd) – 6:19 # "EZ Rider" (Taj Mahal) – 3:20 # " Ain't That a Lot of Love" (Homer ...

'' (2000). *He played guitar on

's 2004 album, ''Shining Through the Rain'', and co-wrote with Fontaine Brown the song "Love Come and Rescue Me". * He played guitar on Bob Dylan’s 2006 album '' Modern Times''. *Freeman played guitar, organ and piano on

Doyle Bramhall Doyle Bramhall (February 17, 1949 – November 12, 2011) was an American blues singer, guitarist and drummer with deep roots in the Austin, Texas music scene. Career Bramhall joined The Chessmen with Jimmie Vaughan while in high school. ...

's 2007 album, ''Is It News''. *He played guitar on two of

's albums, ''Stoned Again'' (2002) and ''In the Groove'' (2018).

Discography

*''Blues Cruise'' (1986) – Amazing *''Out of the Blue'' (1987) – Amazing *''Denny Freeman'' (1991) – Amazing *''A Tone for My Sins'' (1997) – Dallas Blues Society *''Denny Freeman and the Cobras'' (live album) (2000) – Crosscut (Germany) *''Twang Bang'' (2006) – V8 *''Diggin on Dylan'' (2012) – V8 Records

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Denny 1944 births 2021 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues pianists American male pianists Songwriters from Florida Texas blues musicians Electric blues musicians Musicians from Orlando, Florida Songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Florida Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male songwriters