Fred McMullen (born c. 1905; date of death unknown) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

singer and guitarist known to be active in the 1930s. He recorded with the guitarists

Curley Weaver Curley James Weaver (March 25, 1906 – September 20, 1962) was an American blues musician, also known as Slim Gordon. Biography Early years Weaver was born in Covington, Georgia, and raised on a farm near Porterdale. His mother, Savannah "Dip ...

and Buddy Moss in 1933, after which there is no definitive documentation of his life or whereabouts. McMullen was born in Florida sometime in 1905. Little else is known about his life prior to his recording sessions with Weaver and Moss, except that he spent time incarcerated at a convict camp in

DeKalb County, Georgia DeKalb County (, , ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 764,382, making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its ...

. McMullen, who may have settled in Macon after being released from prison, was a regular performer at the 81 Theater in Atlanta, where he first encountered Weaver and Moss. According to Kate McTell in an interview, McMullen was responsible for introducing Moss to her husband, the guitarist

Blind Willie McTell Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was an American Piedmont blues and ragtime singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played in a fluid, syncopated finger picking guitar style common among many Eas ...

, initiating later collaborations between the two. She also suggested that

Georgia White Georgia White (9 March 1903 – c.1980) was an American blues singer, most prolific in the 1930s and 1940s. White was born in Sandersville, Georgia in 1903. By the late 1920s she was singing in nightclub, clubs in Chicago. She made her first sou ...

wrote songs for McMullen while in Atlanta. From January 16 to 19, 1933, McMullen joined Weaver, Moss, and Ruth Willis for recording sessions in New York City. Providing

bottleneck Bottleneck may refer to: * the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle Science and technology * Bottleneck (engineering), where the performance of an entire system is limited by a single component * Bottleneck (network), in a communication network * ...

guitar accompaniment tuned in open G, McMullen also sang lead on "Joker Man Blues" and "Next Door Man", which was released by

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pi ...

and credited to "Jim Miller". He was also the main guitarist on several tracks, including "Wait and Listen", a song with a striking resemblance to Tommy Johnson's style, and "Roll Mama", in which McMullen and Weaver played simultaneous

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

s. On the final day of the sessions, McMullen joined Weaver and Ross to record as the Georgia Browns, releasing "It Must Have Been Her" and "Who Stole De Lock?" McMullen apparently moved on after the sessions concluded, never to record again. The Atlanta

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listed him once, in 1932, filing his name as MacMullin. Moss recalled very little about McMullen but speculated that he returned to Macon. No record of his death is known, but the blues historian Bob L. Eagle hypothesized he could be the same Fred McMullen who died in February 1960. Much of his work has appeared on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s ''Country Blues Classics, Volume 1'', ''Georgia Blues 1927–1930'', ''Some Cold, Rainy Day'', and ''Bottleneck Blues Guitar Classics 1926–37''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMullen, Fred 1900s births Year of death uncertain American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians