Gotta Walk with Da King
Riding his bike through Hurricance Katrina waters to safety, Freddie doesn’t just play the blues; he is the BLUES you’ve heard about and thought had been washed away. With the same band that’s backed him for over a decade, this is rough and raw music while being laid back and easy at the same time. Though he has lived in New Orleans since his teens, King’s playing and singing are unmistakably rooted in his native Mississippi Delta soil. He is eclectic but gritty and his thumb is always his pick, giving his guitar playing a powerful, thick sound. Despite his fierce reputation as ‘rough and tumble’, back in the early days, he marvels at having become a blues elder.
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A worthy release This is a very good recording for a live performance, but it’s not overly produced. You hear just enough from the audience to realize that they’re there, but it’s clearly the band’s performance that makes you wish you were there. King paces himself well with little chatter or downtime between songs. This CD could serve equally well as background music to a gathering at your place (such as this is what you might hear at a club in New Orleans) as it could serve to provoke deep introspection…
I guess if B.B. King can record a half-dozen or so live albums, our own King–Little Freddie–is entitled to record his second one. While these recordings aren’t dated, they appear to be fairly recent and from a New Mexico festival appearance. There are no frills here as Freddie rips through a fairly workman-like set of traditional blues.Several influences are heard in Freddie’s music, as one can discern elements of Jimmy Reed, Lightnin’ Slim, Frankie Lee Sims, Smokey Smothers and…