Reviews

BRITISH AIRWAY MAG. COVER APR 2017 STORY INSIDE

OTTAWA BLUES FESTIVAL JULY 2014 - CANADA

THE GUTBUCKET KING - is New Orleans bluesman Little Freddie King's epic story of sharecropping, migration, music, stabbings, shootings, race, and redemption. It features never-before-heard music and interviews. And it's available from THE NEW NEW SOUTH, a new magazine of Southern non-fiction. For $3.99 at the site above, you'll get full access to the story, including the audio, archival photos and documents. https://newnewsouth.creatavist.com/story/6116.

 

Little Freddie King
"Chasing tha Blues"
MadeWright Records

By Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro © February 2012

When Little Freddie King hears the expression "Ya got to suffer if you want to sing the blues" I'm sure his response sounds something like this....."Damn, have I been there and done that"! This disc will testify to that. It made me kinda wonder if it's Freddie that's "Chasing tha Blues" or tha blues that are chasing Freddie? Whichever it is, there's sure a whole lotta chasin' goin' on.

Making up the band are Little Freddie King on lead guitar and vocals, "Wacko" Wade Wright on drums, Anthony "Skeets" Anderson on bass, and Robert Lewis diTullio, Jr. on harp, along with special guest Greg "Laid Back" Shatz on piano.

Sure, the Emancipation Proclamation had been declared some 75 years earlier, but as Freddie tells it, if you were a black man born in Mississippi during the 1940's, you might as well have been "Born Dead". The hardships of working just like a slave in the cotton fields are clearly felt through his solemn and terrifyingly descriptive vocals. Somber rhythm and sullen guitar leads perfectly reflect the mood.

If I didn't already know he was born in Mississippi, I'd think "Louisiana Train Wreck" was another way of describing Little Freddie King's blues filled life. As you might expect. "Wacko" Wade and Anthony are all over this one on the drums and bass. After all, what's a song about a train without churning rhythm?

Hearing him sing this one there's no doubting Little Freddie King when he says I "Got Tha Blues On My Back". This is one of my personal favorites and describes Freddie's life after being displaced by Katrina and getting put into a place with toxic drywall. "Wacko" Wade works wonders on the percussion and the soft harp and piano accompaniments fit in nicely.

The name of this one should pretty much describe it - "King Freddie's Shuffle". It's an upbeat instrumental that, due to it's lack of melancholy lyrics, actually has a happy sound. It's nice to hear Freddie's guitar painting the bright picture on this one.

"Night Time In Treme" is another instrumental but this one gets down and dirty. Another one of the disc's best, it features real deal blues guitar, harp and piano highlights all backed by a rock solid rhythm.

I like to think of myself as a tough guy but for hangin' out at a place called the "Bucket Of Blood", I'm thinking Little Freddie's got a lot more balls than Big Blewzzman. C'mon, the song has police radios and sirens mixed in with the quite macabre music the band is nervously playing.

Other tracks on this ultimately true blue disc include: "Crackho Flo", "Pocket Full Of Money", "Back In New Orleans", "Great Great Bamboozle "Bywater Crawl" and Standin' At Yo Door".

To get to know more about this real deal, first hand blues man, and to pick up a copy of "Chasing Tha Blues", check out Little Freddie King at www.littlefreddieking.com. Please, do tell him another Blewzzman sent ya.
 

ATTILA HORVATH, EDITOR / WWW.BLUESVAN.HU / HUNGARY
"Listening to the records, it can be determined, that the statement, that Little Freddie King has the music in his blood, is true. Although he lives in New Orleans long time ago, in his music the electric country blues of the Mississippi region is reflected. Simple, skeletonized, free from glimmer, but emotional guitar play characterizes him, on his voice you can feel the trials of life.
In our country in 2004, within the frames of the 33. Jazz days in Debrecen, the performing musician, had gifted us, with really "cool" albums, full of energy."
 

JEFF HANNUSCH  / OffBeat Mag. / JUNE 2010 Gotta Walk with Da King "LITTLE FREDDIE IS A BIT OF A RARITY AS HIS GUITAR PLAYING SEEMS TO IMPROVE WITH EACH SUCEEDING RELEASE AND HE REALLY SPITS OUT SOME INTERESTING LICKS...A WORTHY RELEASE, A TRUE REPRESENTATION OF KING'S MUSIC AND QUITE ENJOYABLE."

FRIDAY APRIL 23, 12:30

LIVING BLUES MAGAZINE / APRIL 2010

DAVID WHITEIS / LIVING BLUES / APR.2010
Gotta Walk with Da King

"KING HAS CRAFTED A SET THAT ACCENTUATES THE MEDITATIVE, CAREWORN SIDE OF HIS MUSICAL PERSONA.
FOR THOSE WHO LIKE THEIR BLUES ROUGH HEWN AND STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART, THIS SET WILL HAVE A LOT TO OFFER."

MICK RAINSFORD / REVIEWER / BLUES IN BRITAIN MAG. 2010


AS A REVIEWER, WHEN I USE WORDS LIKE "GUTBUCKET", "RAW" AND "DOWNHOME BLUES" - IT IS ARTISTS LIKE LITTLE FREDDIE KING THAT INSTANTLY COME IN MIND.

THINK OF THOSE WASTE DISPOSAL SITES WHERE THEY HAVE THE BOTTLES BANKS - ONE FOR CLEAR BOTTLES, ONE FOR GREEN AND ONE FOR BROWN - WELL LITTLE FREDDIE KING'S WOULD BE THE ONE LABELLED "BLOODED-STAINED" BOTTLES - FOR HIS MUSIC SHOULD COME WITH A HEALTH WARNING, "THIS MUSIC IS MENACING AND DANGEROUS - NO PRISONERS TAKEN"

I Loved it! What more can I say?  (Rating 9)

DIRK WISSBAUM / BLUESOURCE.COM / Bluesource.com, Clarksdale, MS.

When Hurricane Katrina waged war with New Orleans, blues guitarist Little Freddie King had to get out of his 9th Ward home quick. He jumped on his bike and rode for safety. He now lives in a beautiful little home in the 9th Ward’s Musician’s Village. His new CD features nine tracks of live, down to the point blues, with that hard cutting edge that Freddie has honed through the years...
 A great recording if you love those authentic juke joint blues.

 BARNES & NOBLE / EDITORIAL REVIEW

MICHAEL G. NASTOS, All Music Guide / Mar2010
Freddie King does run parallel to his hero Freddie King, they are not related. In terms of his guitar playing and style, he definitely stays true to that form, while singing in a grittier tone than his namesake. These performances at the ninth annual Thirsty Ear Festival in Santa Fe, NM, span the gamut of electric blues subgenres with a mellow, down-easy groove, the sound that was a signature of the authentic Freddie King. With longstanding harmonica man Bobby DiTullio, Little Freddie and his band slide through an instrumental "Kinghead Shuffle," a slow "Bus Station Blues," a boogie-down "Walking with Freddie," with minimal vocals and insistent harp, and do the bompity-bomp rhythm with guitar scratching and rooster crows during "Chicken Dance." The hideaway blues that identified Freddie King's music is clear as a bell on "Goin' Out Da Mountain" and "I Use to Be Down," songs that exemplify the laid-back, no-worries approach of easy living and past bygones put away for good. Some upbeat music is heard, but mostly it's that steady rollin', seductive groove, with only marginal scolding, harsh thoughts, or even downheartedness, that makes Little Freddie King's jam-based music stand apart from many other past and current blues artists. 

JOHN WIRT / THE MORNING ADVOCATE / MAR 2010, Baton Rouge, La.

The 69-year-old King's new CD, recorded in-concert in Santa Fe, N.M., moves between mournful slow blues and upbeat stompers... Like Guitar Slim before him, Freddie migated to New Orleans from Mississippi. Despite many years in the city, King often plays raw country blues that has much in common with Baton Rouge area swamp blues men Slim Harpo, Rafel Neal and Rockin' Tabby Thomas.

BLUES NEWS magazine (Jun 08), Finnish Blues Society
photo by Pertti Nurmi. Freddie performed at the RAUMA BLUES festival 12 Jul 09, along with Dr. John and Sue Foley - Great Festival

I've received the CD last week.

 

It's a GREAT GREAT GREAT album. I've put it in my mp3 and I listen to it everyday in the railway when I go to work !

 Thanks a lot,

 Hervé Colombet - FRANCE

 

REVIEW by Norman Darwen
BLUES MATTERS MAGAZINE (LONDON)
issue 46, Dec 2008

SOUL BAG Magazine - Paris, Fr. 
review by Eric Doidy / June 2008 issue

JUKE BLUES Magazine -- London, UK
review by: Alan Empson / issue 65

Przemek Draheim, music dir.

Radio SFERA, Poland, Feb 08

This is the music I love so much, blues that is down and dirty, not polish or handsome, but real and Little Freddie is the real deal! His voice tells a lot about him – I can tell he learned his blues the hard way but he learned it well. His guitar chops and fills are deep in the groove and you can’t help but move. He sounds a bit like Lightnin’ Hopkins playing Fat Possum, a bit lazy but with a certain twist, something you can’t learn from records. What also impressed me is you guys, the backing band. I wasn’t surprised when I saw the same line-up on  Messin’ Around Tha House as the last cd – the band understand Freddie’s music so well and bring him a perfect and steady foundation, in both, rhythm section duties and harp playing. The real blues is alive and well, hell yeah!

     

MESSIN' AROUND THA HOUSE 
(MADEWRIGHT RECORDS, 2008)
Little Freddie King Returns

posted by Greg  "Doc" Lefebre 
27 Mar   Doc@Jazz901.org Rochester, NY

When Lightin’ Hopkins is your cousin and you’ve played with such greats as Slim Harpo, the expectations are going to be high. Little Freddie King delivers again on his new release, “Messin’ Around The House” (MadeWright Records). Originally from Mississippi, Little Freddie is mainly known as the local “Blues-Guitar Legend” of New Orleans, where he currently resides. Aside from the three remix tracks by D.J. Martin Tino Gross (Detroit’s Howling Diablos fame), this is a down and dirty straight forward blues CD that needs to be heard. “Wacko” Wade Wright who doubles as producer and drummer on the CD has really captured the soul of Freddie’s music. If you liked the R.L. Burnside remix CDs or you like to hit the treadmill, the remix tunes will do right by you. My favorites tracks are when Freddie just lays back and lets his 68 years of living and playing the blues come alive. Yes his name comes from being compared to the late great Freddie King, who Little Freddie actually had the chance to play bass with during a stop in New Orleans. The excitement of this new release continues as Little Freddie King has lined up some touring outside New Orleans. He’ll be at the Crawfish Festival in Augusta, NJ - Memorial Day Weekend. If you can’t make that then plan on catching him at his usual Spring Stops , the French Quarter Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival & The Ponderosa Stomp.

Roger & Margaret White, music review

Big City Rhythm & Blues Mag. / Apr. 08

Messin" Around tha House, it's not just a showcase for the old blues, but the future of the blues as well... Freddie doesn't just play the blues; he is the blues you've heard about and thought has been washed away... Little Freddie is one of the last true Delta blues men playing what he calls "Gut Bucket Blues".

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I KNOW  (FAT POSSUM RECORDS)
"You never quite know what you're going to get when the Fat Possum label introduces a new artist to the mix, but the brain trust of Matthew Johnson and Bruce Watson never fails to come up big. Little Freddie King might be the luckiest find yet, if You Don't Know What I Know is any indication. This is certainly one of the best blues albums of 2005, one that will hypnotize and move your body." Lou Freidman / PopMatters

"Bluesman like Little Freddie King are, unfortunately, a disappearing breed, which makes this disc important both as a good-time blast of backstreet grit and as a document of an artist who is among the last of his kind. 
David Whities / Living Blues Magazine

"I don't know exactly where to start because I'm beside myself with enthusiasm for every track. Once again Fat Possum have discovered a long forgotten blues man of the old school and produced yet another dynamic album of the real thing." Red Lick Records / England

SING SANG SUNG  (ORLEANS RECORDS)
"You have to love a guy who puts his life out there for the world to chew on, especially if he's a Bluesman, and Little Freddie King, hailed on the jewel case as 'one of the last great country-blues players' is certainly that...King's fantastically sleazy pawn-shop leads drip all over songs like cheap grease and cigar smoke." 
Robert Fontenot / Offbeat Magazine 

"Rough and ready... You can hear it in his original "Bucket of Blood", a spoken poetry of the blues. It's apt that compelling live set was recorded at the Dream Place in New Orleans, because here is music that will enthall the Urban blues fan. SSS is highly recommended." 
David Lewis / Cadence Magazine.

SWAMP BOOGIE   (ORLEANS RECORDS)
"This record swings from the get-go. From Little Freddie King's first thumb-strummed rhythm to his deep pocket leads. Subtle, yet deep reaching. King locks into the pulse in that irresistible fashion it seems musicians only learn from spending years in New Orleans."
Debra DeSalvo / Blues Access

ROCK & ROLL BLUES -   (AHURA MAZDA RECORDS)
Recorded in 1971, Zora Delta Music, BMI and is considered the first amplified blues recording in New Orleans. Band memebers; A.B.Bruer, Rudy Taylor, John S. "Harmonica" Williams (born 1920 moved to N.O. 1957), Little Freddie King. 
(Out of Print - Collector)

PERFORMANCES:

MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL --Canada
"As soon as the music started, the crowd and myself started to dance and clap our hands. He already gained his public with his very energetic show. Then there has been few standing ovations even after the people were asking for more the group left with their accomplished mission." 
Gamillah's Review / WVOF-88.5 FM Connecticute

BURNLEY BLUES FESTIVAL - England
"And while all the bands went down well with very appreciative crowds, the highlight of the weekend for many was Little Freddie King on the main stage at the Burnley Mechanics. Despite being well into his 60's, King still shows the kind of passion for his blues music one would expect from a child with a new toy. For almost two hours solid he jived across the stage and showboated his way through a blistering set of songs which had fans young and old literally begging for more. The truly amazing Little Freddie King".
Andrew Greaves / Burnley Express News

ESTAFETTE BLUES FESTIVAL - Holland
"Freddie was one of the highlights of the event, and he has that magic juke joint sound that is rarely heard at festivals." 
Cella Huggins, Editor / Juke Blues

N.O. JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL  - New Orleans
"Freddie's been a persistent presence in the Crescent City every since before there was even a Jazz & Heritage Festival, because he's played at every one, with the warmth and sparkle of his very personality, and he has a wonderful knack for reworking classic modern blues compositions into completely personal permutations of these familiar themes". 
John Sinclair / Music Journalist / Detroit

DEBRECEN JAZZ FESTIVAL  - Hungary
Freddie King's music proved to be genuine country blues, the band tight if not outstanding, giving the impression of authenticity."
Gabor Turi, Mayor / Naplo Newspaper

FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL - New Orleans
"One taste of his still-fresh Mississippi accent and one lick on his electric guitar, and you won't be sorry you got a chance to sample what the blues is meant to sound like - real, cathartic, cool and always with a touch of the roughness that makes it the blues to begin with. An accomplished musicianship make him one of the city's hidden gems. 
Lisa O'Neill / Where Y'at Magazine

 EVENTS Performed:

BLUES TO BOP - (Switzerland)
OTTAWA BLUES FESTIVAL - (Canada)
KING BISCUIT BLUES - (USA)
NANCY JAZZ / PULSATION FEST. - (France)
SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL - (USA)
POCONO BLUES FESTIVAL - (USA) 
CHESTERFIELD CLUB - (Paris)
JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL - (Paris)
PORTSMOUTH BLUES FESTIVAL - (USA) 
COIMBRA BLUES FESTIVAL - (Portugal)
TERRA BLUES CLUB - (New York)
CASTEL SAN PIETRO, IN BLUES - (Italy)
BANANA PEEL BLUES CLUB - (Belgium)
MOJO BLUES FESTIVAL  - (Rome) 
MONTREAL INTER. JAZZ FEST - (Canada) 
SONS OF MUNDO BLUES FESTIVAL - (Portugal) 
BURNLEY NATIONAL BLUES - (England)
BLUES ESTAFETTE - (Holland)
N.O.JAZZ & HERTIGE FESTIVAL - (USA)
FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL - (USA)
MICHAEL ARNONE'S CRAWFISH EST. (USA)
N.O. JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL - (USA)
35TH WINNIPEG FOLK FESTIVAL - (Canada)
6TH ANNUAL PONDEROSA STOMP- (USA)
KTAO SOLAR CENTER - TAOS (USA)
THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL  - SANTA FE (USA)
08 NANCY JAZZ / PULSATION FEST. - (France)
CRESCENT CITY BLUES FEST - (USA)
14TH LUCERNE BLUES FEST - (SWITZERLAND)
MEMPHIS SMOKE - DETROIT (USA)
2009 FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL (USA)
N.O. JAZZ & HERITAGE FEST. 2009 - (USA)
BAYOU BOOGALOO FESTIVAL, (USA)
5TH DUKE ELLINGTON JAZZ FEST  (D.C.)
2009 15TH ESSENCE FESTIVAL (USA)
RAUMA BLUES FESTIVAL (FINLAND)
2009 VOODOO FESTIVAL (USA)
BLACK POT FESTIVAL (USA)
2010 FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL (NOLA)
2010 N.O. JAZZ & HERITAGE FEST  (USA)
2010 BAYOU BOOGIE FESTIVAL (PROVIDENCE)
2010 BLUES 'N' JAZZ, RAPPERSWIL-JONA (SWITZERLAND)
NEW ORLEANS MEETS ZOFINGEN (SWITZERLAND)
2010 ESSENCE FESTIVAL, (USA)