The Highlander

Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Arts and Culture

Freddie "The Texas Cannonball" King may be a lesser known Blues' master, but his talent is immense. His two most famous songs include "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (covered by Eric Clapton) and "Hide Away" (a middle temple blues shuffle that made #29 on the Billboard Top 100 list and #5 on Billboard Top R&B Charts in 1961.)

If you're ever asked to name a famous bluesman, chances are you'd answer B.B. King, the man who has had a reputation, going way back to the 1960's, for being known as the "King of the Blues." But B.B. wasn't the only influential blues musician to bear the last name "king."

Frederick Christian, known as Freddie "The Texas Cannonball" King, was born on September 3, 1934 in Gilmer, Texas. He began learning guitar from his mother and uncle at the young age of 6, and when his family moved to the southside of Chicago at 16, Freddie eagerly snuck into local blues clubs to listen to some future legends in person.

There he witnessed first-hands such greats as Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and Howlin' Wolf, experiences inspiring him to lead his own career as a blues guitar player, starting as a sit-in for many of Chicago's influential bluesmen. Like blues guitarist Jimmy Rodgers, Freddie was unique in playing with a plastic thumb pick and a metal pick on his index finger.

At age 18, working in a steel mill by day and playing gigs at night, Freddie married Texan Jessie Burnett, with whom he had a total of 10 children. His music career got off to a relatively slow start as he recorded with smaller, local record companies throughout the 1950's until when, in 1960, he signed with the King/Federal label.

There Freddie recorded two of his most famous songs for the first time: "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," an emotional song immersed in powerful guitar licks and covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, and "Hide Away," a mid-tempo blues shuffle in the key of E that served as one of his most successful hits and drove him to #29 on the U.S. pop chart. The song was purely instrumental and included no words whatsoever.

"They expect work, they does, hard work. And if you're working hard and enjoyin' it, they'll enjoy it too," he once said.

Continued...

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