Freddie King, nicknamed “the Texas Cannonball,” was a pioneering blues guitarist who became a major influence on rock guitarists, especially in the British blues boom of the 1960s. His muscular, gutlevel playing style breathed modern life into blues standards and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) singles alike.
King was born Billy Myles on September 30, 1934, in Gilmer, Texas. Family legend holds that he picked cotton in order to earn money to buy a guitar at the age of six. His mother, Ella Mae King, and an uncle, Leon King, taught him the rudiments of the instrument, and he grew up listening to blues guitarists and to blues saxophonist, Louis Jordan.
In 1950, Myles (as King was then known) arrived with his family in Chicago, where he would sneak into the blues clubs to hear Muddy WATERS’ band. Eventually, he found work in a steel mill and was jamming in blues clubs at night. At the age of 17, he bought an electric guitar and began to learn pointers from other guitarists, developing a style that was a blend of country and urban blues. “I picked up the style between Sam Lightnin’ HOPKINS and Muddy Waters, and B. B. KING and T-Bone WALKER, ” he said. “That’s in-between style; that’s the way I play, see. So I plays country and city.” From Jimmy Rogers, the second guitarist in Waters’ band, Myles learned to play with two picks—a steel fingerpick on his index finger and a plastic thumbpick.
During the next few years, Myles was to play with MEMPHIS SLIM, La Vern Baker, and Willie DIXON as well as Muddy Waters. When El-Bee released Myles’s first single, “Country Boy,” in 1957, backed with “That’s What You Think,” he had taken his mother’s maiden name as his surname. The newly named King signed with Cincinnati’s King-Federal Records in I960, and in August of that year, he recorded “Hideaway,” a blazing instrumental that crossed over to the national pop charts in 1961. In all, King recorded 77 sides for King- Federal, including around 30 instrumentals and several big R&B hits such as “Have You Ever Loved a Woman?” which was later covered by one of King’s greatest long-term admirers, Eric Clapton. In 1961, King made the R&B charts six times and the pop charts three times. He toured extensively from 1960 to 1963, playing colleges and parties. His danceable instrumentals appealed to white teenagers, while blues and R&B fans favoured songs like his “She Put the Whammy on Me.” King’s popularity began to fade in the mid-1960s, however, with the result that the King-Federal label dropped him. He then moved to Dallas, but with the blues revival in the late 1960s in the U.K., King’s star was once again on the ascendant. His music was covered by bands such as Chicken Shack, while John Mayall featured one of his songs on each of his first three albums with the Bluesbreakers. King took advantage of this Blues revival to tour Britain, which he did to much acclaim in 1969.
In 1970, Leon Russell signed King to Shelter Records, which led to regular concert dates and renewed interest in his skill as a vocalist as well as an instrumentalist. During this time, he managed to build up a more mainstream white rock audience, which was to be the largest following of his career. He played the Fillmore in New York in 1971, and his performance was one of the highlights of the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues Festival. In 1974, he signed to the RSO label and cut an album called Burglar in England with the help of Eric Clapton, followed by Larger Than Life in the following year.
Suffering from ulcers and heart trouble, King died at age 42 on December 28, 1976, in Dallas, having played his last concert just three days before. To the end, his 1970s performances were intense, loud, and aggressive. “He would hit these high notes and just wail on ’em, and it was like, ‘Whoa, man, I’m gonna fall off my stool any minute now!’” recalled Mike Kennedy, his drummer in the mid-1970s.
Stan Hieronymus
SEE ALSO:
BLUES; RECORD COMPANIES.
FURTHER READING
Davis, Francis. The History of the Blues (New York: Hyperion, 1995).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Best of Freddie King; Just Pickin’; The Texas Cannonball 1934–76.