Freddie King Reissue: My Feeling For The Blues

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite bluesmen (I say that about everyone of them), but the thing that makes me like Freddie King so much is that he did not get the kind of recogniction that I feel he deserved. So I guess that I try to compensate for that by enjoying his music all the more today.

Wikipedia says;

King was born Frederick Christian in Gilmer, Texas on September 3, 1934. His mother was Ella May King, his father J.T. Christian. His mother and uncle, who both played the guitar, began teaching Freddie to play at the age of six.

He moved with his family from Texas to the South Side of Chicago in 1950. There, at age 16 he used to sneak in to local clubs, where he heard blues music performed by the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Howlin' Wolf took him under his wing, and Freddie also began jamming with Muddy Waters' sidemen, who included Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, Jr. and Little Walter.

By 1952 he had married a Texas girl, Jessie Burnett. He gigged at night and worked days in a steel mill. He got occasional work as a sideman on recording sessions. Two bands that he played with during this period were the Sonny Cooper Band, and Early Payton's Blues Cats. He formed the first band of his own, the Every Hour Blues Boys, with guitarist Jimmy Lee Robinson and drummer Sonny Scott.

In 1953 he made some recordings for Parrot. In 1956 he recorded "Country Boy", a duet with, Margaret Whitfield, and "That's What You Think", an uptempo shuffle. This was for a local label, El-Bee. Robert Lockwood, Jr. appeared as a sideman on guitar.

I am assuming that because Mr. King was born in this month Friday Music thought it was a good idea to reissue his overlooked 1969 album My Feeling For The Blues. It is the first album that he made for Atlantic's rock-oriented Cotillion label. And it showcased his vocals and his six-string guitar playing. The album is a collection of original songs and classic covers of songs by Elmore James, B.B. King, and Ray Charles. Long out-of-print the album includes performances by soul sax great King Curtis, harp player Hugh McCracken, and guitarist Cornell Dupree, with song arrangements by Donnie Hathaway.



Freddie King @ SqueezeMyLemon